Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: syria

  • Running from God – 5 – God pursues

    Running from God – 5 – God pursues

    Are you running from God?

    Here we have Elijah sulking in victory and awaiting defeat under the shade of a broom tree.

    We have heard the same Peter who would glorify Jesus and Moses and Elijah with a shrine, deny knowing Jesus when he risked imprisonment or execution for his confession of Christ.

    We have even seen Moses, God’s hand-picked leader of Israel to lead them to the Promised Land, weary of the weight of leadership.

    Yet God pursues victory beyond the focus of our vision and glory higher than the imagination of our defeat.

    1 Kings 19

    The Lord Speaks to Elijah

    9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him,

    “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

    10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

    11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.”

    And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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.

    12 And after the earthquake a fire,

    but the Lord was not in the fire.

    And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

    13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said,

    “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

    14 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

    15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

    WAIT a minute! Elijah, Prophet of Israel who God has used to prove His Almighty Power over the false prophets and worshipers of Tyre and Sidon and places beyond Syria; Elijah, Prophet of Israel, who had thought his battle against Ahab and Jezebel was over (and that they would kill him); GOD commands Elijah to anoint a man Hazael as King of Syria!

    Syria! NOT Israel, NOT Judah. Almighty GOD is anointing a King of Syria; as before Moses, God had anointed a Prince of Egypt named Joseph.

    GOD is strategic beyond the best planning and foresight of man. As with Moses being succeeded by Joshua, God also appoints a powerful successor to the Prophet Elijah. And God also commands the defeated Elijah under the broom tree waiting to die to anoint the next King of Israel to replace his pursuer Ahab. (The fate of Jezebel she has prophesied on herself.)

    [Previously, in 1 Kings 19:2 – “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ] Of course Jezebel’s gods are nothing more than stone and wood.

    GOD continues Elijah’s orders:

    16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. 17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

    Elisha later witnesses the Prophet Elijah taken up into heaven! Seven centuries later Peter, James and John would witness Elijah standing with Moses and Jesus talking about that which is to come.

    And when Peter later denied knowing Jesus, God pursued him. Peter was witness to Jesus after the resurrection.

    NO broom tree to sit under or cave in which to hide – Jesus walked along the road to Emmaus: God pursued Peter.

    And providentially enough, not so much later, Jesus appeared alive once more to another Jew, an Apostle to the Gentiles. And where was it where GOD, in the risen Christ Jesus, pursued Saul, persecutor of Christians?

    GOD met Saul on the road to Damascus, Syria!

    Paul is witness to the risen Christ Jesus! A man from Tarsus (in Turkey) testifies JESUS IS LORD!

    GOD is not ONLY the God of the Jews; GOD is the ONE GOD, over all who believe in Christ Jesus our Lord; any who will listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and return to the way of God’s will.

    Not my will, but thy will be done. – Luke 22:42

    Let us prepare for the return of Christ Jesus our Lord upon the clouds in victory.

    Amen.

     

  • The Scandal of a Virgin

    The Scandal of a Virgin

    Everything seemed to be in chaos; no real leadership to speak of in households in my country or surrounding countries. Armies of men, young men and even boys terrorizing our lives, then running away. Soldiers, they call themselves; robbing homes, taking what they please and offering it back to helpless widows.

    The men flee and fear radical zealot followers of traditionalist religious men. The powerful army of an enemy has occupied once more in a place where no one will be led – a place where men and women will only do what is right in their own eyes.

    Life seems hopeless for us. What little semblance of order we once had in our families is now broken by the futility of war and the occupiers of peace.

    Is this scenario from which we are constantly distracted so unfamiliar?

    When judea mapRome occupied Syria and Palestine  and there was no longer an Israel (recall from your history), the traditional local leaders had failed in leading a rebellious people that will not be led – a history much repeated over the centuries.

    War and conflict: familiar and frequent in these lands of the Bible ripe for the picking of wealthy nations, open to opportunists conquering the wealth of weak peoples.

    Life has little value to those who fight for an army of conquerors. They have no home any more; these soldiers and those who flee from them.

    Family: husbands and wives, boys and girls – these are of little importance to those who wage war, men who desire riches and glory for themselves.

    Is anything new under the sun? Yet this is not God’s intention for God’s family.

    Deuteronomy 12:8 “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters…

     —

    As we prepare to celebrate a ‘Christmas’ season in the year of our Lord, 2014; rich Americans, prosperous Europeans, several wealthy Arabs, select Asians, a few Africans and some South Americans are much distracted by our addictive daily entertainment and games. It was no different in the games of Rome years before the Roman Empire fell, miles away from Palestine and the birth we mark in Bethlehem.

    Christmas is now a time of self-indulgent shopping and entertainments of blockbuster movies. A box-office hit might well suggest movie-scene destruction of a country the size of Argentina or Poland. How like a video game must all the violence seem to these boy warriors.

    Who would even bat an eyelash at so many deaths in a war-like scene where men of war are determined to wipe out their enemies; where young boys will break up communities and families and men who lead armies will cause them to take their crusade of higher cause to unfamiliar lands, wreaking havoc and devastation in the most evil ways upon the innocent?

    It would not seem unusual in this time of surreal, video game-like violence for a man like me, who drives through a city like Allentown PA US, to go to work to discover that in just one day some violent, evil force had destroyed every living being the entire city (or in a year the deaths of the entire population of Poland). This is the deception of our industrious entertainment empires.

    This unimaginable violence, both real and portrayed, whether in the dramas of the Roman Colosseum or the movies of Hollywood, trivializes the value of every human life intended for a place on this earth by God; a place in a marriage by God; a place in a family of God; a place in a community of God in a place where war is no more. We are a world corrupted by sin and peoples led by evil men.

    —

    iraqis refugeesAbout 850,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have fled the conflict in central Iraq to seek safety further north in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). They are scattered across the KRI in a variety of temporary housing situations: though a small number of them are in camps, most live informally in local schools, unfinished buildings, and public parks. Half a million of them are in the city of Dohuk alone. The great majority of these 850,000 internally displaced are members of religious minorities – Christians from the Ninewa Plains and Yazidis from the Sinjar area, in particular.
    As humanitarian agencies scramble to meet their needs, there must be a plan for longer-term support that reflects the increasingly complex and unpredictable environment in the country as a whole: an environment that is likely to result in more displacement.

    Syrian-refugees-setting-up-camp-receiveing-aid-in-IraqThese 850,000 refugees are in addition to the 640,000+ registered refugees from Syria in Jordan, not to mention the hundreds of thousands who have fled war in many parts of Africa and the Middle East; more than a million refugees from Ukraine and other countries.

    ‘What does all this have to do with a virgin?’ you ask.

    An introduction to our ‘cover girl’

    West_Bank_&_Gaza_Map_2007_(Settlements)

    The young girl featured above the title of this post lives in the troubled land of Israel of today. She is part of a group of young Jewish girls born in the troubled settlements of the West Bank.

    Tzuriya, a recent graduate of Ma’ale Levona, is doing her National Service as a guide at a Jordan Valley farm for kids with drug and alcohol problems.

    Two thousand, fourteen years ago, she would not be unlike a young Galilean girl named Mary, betrothed to a man a little bit older than her named Joseph. In those days young girls adhered to strict Biblical standards for young women prior to their betrothal to their future husband.

    They were called virgins. Their virginity was expected and guaranteed by their fathers as virgins were given to a husband as his bride and wife. A young woman’s life could be forfeited if she became pregnant. No honorable young man would consider having intercourse with just any young virgin (girl) and fathers protected their daughters with all power and authority until they were married. The family and pureness were held to the highest standards by all Hebrews.

    Babies were protected by mothers and fathers; all women, children and elderly preserved and protected by brothers and by close-knit biological families of the husband and his wife.

    Do you recall my reference above to an unimaginable violence of a movie scene that destroyed a city like Allentown PA US in just one day (and then another one, say, Hartford Connecticut, tomorrow)? That is the scope of the violence now being done to unborn babies executed by abortions each day of every year!

    The global holocaust of deaths of babies by abortion destroys the equivalent population of Argentina or Poland each and every year!

    The threats of the duplicitous government of Herod were small by comparison to what we matter-of-factly call ‘planned‘ in destroying the lives of babies for the indiscretions of their mothers. As a matter of fact, Mary and Joseph (you may remember) did have to flee Herod and the political troubles of the day for their baby Jesus to grow up in Egypt for a time (until it was safe for these refugees to return to Galilee (after their eventful visit to Bethlehem).

    Yes, the problem of refugees and violence against babies and families is not new and was familiar even to Jesus.

    Matthew 1 ESV [notes]

     The Birth of Jesus Christ

    18 Now the birth of the Christ [the Messiah] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed [That is, legally pledged to be married] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

    19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

    21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

    23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”
    (which means, God with us).

    24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

    —

    A Light in the darkness

    Christians make much of the pageantry of the Christmas story and the child-like delight to which our Lord calls us as we hopefully hear the annual re-telling of the birth of Christ Jesus.

    The Gospel of Luke recounts the events in even more detail than our account from Matthew (above); however the Gospel of John tells us why a young virgin girl giving birth in Bethlehem of Judea remains the most scandalous birth of all time – the virgin birth of the most controversial son of man ever born, Christ Jesus, Immanuel, God With Us, Redeemer of the Jews, Hope of the Nations, Sacrifice for our sins, Judge of all men; Perfect and Holy example of what it means to be made in the Image of God.

    Jesus was a sinless man, sacrificed for your sins and for mine. No other man (or woman) born of a woman can claim Christ’s sinlessness.

    John 1

    4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…

    9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

    12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

    14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

    —

    The same Jews who believed John the Baptist to be a Prophet, rejected Jesus for political and traditional religious expediency. Only a remnant of the Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah. [v.11] Christ Jesus adopted the people of the Nations (gentiles) who believe in Him. He gave those who believe the right of being part of the family of God. [v.12]

    It is not the land that is important; it is the God of the land.

    Jesus even praised some Romans and commended hated Samaritans (formerly part of the Israel of David) for their faith.

    Jesus chastened the rich to be generous and the ‘religious’ to be faithful, compassionate and loving.

    Love one another. Love your neighbor and pray for those who persecute you.

    Jesus performed many miracles, fulfilled many scriptures, taught scripture (the Bible) with authority, lived and died righteously, and most importantly of all – rose from the dead (witnessed by over five hundred men and several women). Yet most Jews do not accept Jesus as the Christ to this day.

    Did the Prophets not condemn the hardness of their hearts? Have the hearts of some christians not now become just as rebellious to the commands of Christ Jesus? Just read what the Prophets had to say about the darkness and disobedience of the time before Jesus Immanuel came into the world.

    Is it not the same darkness which now permeates the border-less regions of the nations and secret places in the hard hearts of mankind in these last days before our Lord’s triumphal return on the clouds?

    The Apostle John speaks well of the overflowing love of God, the love of Christ Jesus and the necessity of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men.

    IF we expect to inherit eternal life and the eternal Kingdom of God and His only Son, Christ Jesus, then we must repent of our sin and follow Jesus as our Lord. The Good News of Christmas is that you are invited to do this. You need not live in Israel or be of Hebrew descent.

    John also cautions that many will not accept Jesus, the light of life; and John tells us why many (including some who would claim to be ‘christians’) will not follow Jesus as Lord. The words following near to the well-pronounced John 3:16 remain a relevant caution to all in these last days.

    John 3:

    19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world,

    and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

    20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

    Jesus confronted Pharisees of the Jews as whitewashed tombs. They are dead in their religion and dead in their life – dead in their witness of the love of God and dead to eternal life. Jesus acknowledged that accepting His righteousness – accepting God, worshiping God as Lord of your life and not merely doing what is right in your own eyes is controversial; even more controversial than the scandal of a virgin giving birth.

    Ask a Jew who rejects Jesus; ask a Muslim who rejects most of what Jesus taught (as just one more prophet before Muhammad); ask a Hindu or Buddhist, who believe in many gods; ask a post-modern agnostic or atheist, who speak of peace yet believe only the science of the provable:

    Did Jesus come into the world to bring peace? Is Jesus God Incarnate; God With Us? Does Christ Jesus still live, resurrected in the body (as the Gospels witness)?

    Matthew records Jesus’ own comment about ‘peace’ on earth.

    Matthew 10:

    18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved…

    Not Peace, but a Sword

    34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

    36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

    37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

    —

    Is it not true? Is it not scandalous that a virgin should give birth to God Incarnate?

    Is it not true, that God is NOT one (in a definable sense), but infinitely unknowable by a being – a human being – of His creation; rather, the LORD GOD is a trinity – Father: Abba Father, a loving Father, as Christ Jesus taught, a Father overflowing with love for those who love Him; Son: Christ Jesus, the Messiah, Sacrifice for our sins, Redeemer of our eternal life in Him, example in the Person of God’s love and teacher of God’s very Word, the same ‘Word’ which spoke all being into existence [John 1:1]; and Holy Spirit: The same Person of the Holy Spirit which descended on Jesus and His Baptism (not a bird), the same Person of the Holy Spirit that descended on the Apostles (no more a fire than the burning bush, but something more of the Holiness of God), and the same Person of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost, hagios pneuma) which gave the Son to Mary.

    Matthew 1:20 …for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

    Scandalous!

    —

    Love and follow Jesus Christ as your Lord. Build a personal relationship with the Son of God, that you may be known in His eternal Kingdom.

    My Christmas messages to follow in this year of our Lord, 2014,  are not a traditional rendering of the Christmas story, a message of ‘peace on earth, good will to men.’

    It is not a message of peace for those who will not receive the peace and love of Christ Jesus, God Immanuel, the Person of Christ returning in victory.

    It is not truly the Gospel, the Good News that IF you accept Jesus as your Lord and follow Him, as I pray you will; that in Christ Jesus you will have an inner peace in addition to eternal life. It is not the message of love to which I pray my Muslim, Jewish, and unbelieving friends will come as they humbly accept that no works or laws can earn our right to eternal life with God.

    Rather, my Christmas messages to follow are a plea to the church; a trumpet call to marginal ‘christians’ to do what Jesus would have us do, to say what Jesus would have us say, and as best we can to live as Jesus would have us live. Christians must love one another as God has loved us in the Person of Jesus Christ – the Christ of ‘Christ-Mass’ – coming to us; for our LORD has commanded that His love be evident in us as we live in the world, while we are no longer part of the condemned.

    Are we not here to do something about a world of devastating darkness, hearts of uncaring coldness; lives lived without love, souls surviving with no hope, no faith and no love?

    Is it not scandalous that even God is not loved by those whom He created – those whom He knew even before we were in our mother’s womb, souls who the Word of God spoke into existence in the beginning and will judge in the end?

    Can you think of any lasting scandal more divisive (even now) than the birth of Christ Jesus to a virgin in Bethlehem?

    If you do not believe it, I challenge you to share the love of Christ and witness the Name of Jesus.

    Those who love the darkness will hear nothing of our sin; they will scandalize and reject the Name of Jesus, this Christmas and until the Judgment.

  • Saints & Martyrs; Bishops & Pawns – 2

    Saints & Martyrs; Bishops & Pawns – 2

    1 Samuel 2:9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

    Yet as the Lord lives, evil reigns in the dark places of the lands. No man: rich or poor, Arab or Jew, Westerner or Easterner, religious or godless – no man shall prevail. Only God Almighty!

    Attacks on God and godlessness will continue until Almighty God has prevailed, as I alluded to in part 1 of this post. Perpetrators of cowardly attacks on working civilians will continue for a time by pawns of misled leaders, frustrated religious zealots and enemies of God with hatred for their own enemies.

    Jesus Christ taught us to ‘love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use you.” We had best remember this in these last days.

    How many of us remember (what we claimed we would always remember) the number of deaths on 9/11/2001?

    Deaths by Area of Attack Deaths
    World Trade Center 2,606
    Airlines 246
    Pentagon Building 125
    Hijackers 19
    Total number of people who died in the 9/11 attacks 2,996
    Casualties in the World Trade Center and Surrounding Area Deaths
    Firefighters 343
    Port Authority police officers 37
    Police officers 23
    Paramedics 2

    God testifies to the evil in the hearts of men.

    Genesis 6:5

    The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

    6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

    In the days of Noah  every man and woman on the earth was destroyed? The LORD prevailed with waters upon the earth for 150 days and all but Noah and seven others.

    Though we focus on the eight saved, let us not overlook the deaths of so many evil men and women, perhaps 5-17 billion people  (according to various estimates) on the earth at the time only Noah and his family obeyed Almighty God.

    world populationFor any who believe that God is not sovereign over the beginning and end of days, sovereign over the lives of men and woman, sovereign over life on earth itself; let us remember that God has promised a new heaven and a new earth for those who are victorious in Christ Jesus.

    As in the days of Noah, wars and the actions of evil men and evil women will prevail until that day. Countries and borders will be born and disappear. God will allow men temporary power over those who do not do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

    The Sovereign God Almighty will allow the deaths, destruction and desecration of all that is good and lawful as victims of evil and a refining of righteousness. Even now, we see and dare not ignore the signs.

    In Syria alone (separate of the deaths among refugees of the current conflict in Iraq and those fleeing Pakistan), around 5,000 to 6,000 people were being killed on a monthly basis. Latest figures put the death toll at more than 191,000 over the past three years. Men and boys account for the bulk of the deaths but nearly 18,000 women and more than 2,000 children under the age of nine are also among those killed, he said.

    [On 9/11, one day we recall as a tragic attack, 2,996 deaths.] Now, hundreds of thousands of deaths and the loss of many souls!

    Have you heard of it, or done anything to help, dear believer?

    How blind we remain to the violence of these evil men, who will stand before the Lord in judgement for their souls, rather than reap the reward of heavenly virgins. (For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. – Mark 12:25)

    Yet they would rape the women they capture on earth and hang or behead them for their witness to the Truth of Christ Jesus.

     1 Million + refugees, Muslims and Christians

    Dear believer (in God),

    Our marginal awareness of a far-distant conflict, we may believe has no affect on the body of Christ. Yet in these days of war between religions, hardly a Christian community survives openly in many areas from where refugees have fled.

    Do you not know that some will be converted by the love of Jesus Christ and the generosity of Christians in their time of need?

    The GOD of Abraham was not interested in saving the Jews from Roman occupation of Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Jesus is not of this earth, but a lasting Kingdom of eternal life for your soul.

    Since the beginning of the Church, God has accepted any who believe into our family of God, into the loving fellowship of all believers in Christ Jesus.

    The Gentiles, the Nations, sons of Esau, those who once persecuted the same Christians are welcomed (not forced) into the communion of the Blood of Christ and assurance of eternal life.

    One such former enemy of Christ was Saul of Tarsus (Turkey). He ordered the execution of Stephen, a saint and leader of the church. – Acts 7:58 

    Yet this same Saul, a Roman citizen as well, became an Apostle to the Gentiles. This former enemy of Jesus Christ witnessed to all of the mercy, love and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. – Acts 9

    Rest assured that many unbelievers throughout the world will come to God and Christ Jesus, our Lord. They see the love and forgiveness of Christ demonstrated through the hands of faithful Christians.

    These saints of the church, so concerned for the souls of others, bless friends and forgive foes by the grace of Jesus Christ. These saints of the 21st c. Church declare Christ’s love by our concern for others.

    Saint Paul and Saint Peter and Saint Stephen, along with the other martyrs, would never have had us worship them or any man of the early church above the example of Christ Jesus. Though the compassionate work of Teresa and Joan and Mary have been examples for women of faith, none would have had us revere them above the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

    The true saints of the church are not its Bishops or icons of the past.

    The widow’s mite and pauper’s pence have sustained the needy, while these true saints have withstood in long-suffering as pawns of the powers in true witness of the love of Christ Jesus.

    These, along with you, dear believer, are the saints of the church, equal in every way to those named and Saints unnamed.

    Christ Jesus is love, because God is love. In Him is no darkness at all, no hatred, no evil, no territory, no agenda. The mission of Christ is to save sinners – sinners like you and sinners like me; for His grace I am eternally grateful.

    We hardly remember the 3000 souls who perished on just one day: 9/11/2001; yet the war against Christ, the war against freedom continues.

    Pray for the persecuted. Open your eyes, your heart and your purse to those so in need.

    What’s happening in Iraq? What is hidden in Syria?

    Christians and Muslims and others are suffering terribly. Please READ more of this and do something, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

    Iraqi refugees tell their story

    Iraq (MNN) — ISIS continues its offensive across Syria and Iraq, leaving many victims in its wake. The stories of ISIS killing males above 10 years old, the systematic rape of women and girls, and the looting of personal possessions is shocking, even to many Muslims.

    (See the complete interview on the link above.)

    WIFE: The armed men passed by me and behind them were veiled women, wearing red clothes. And, they searched me, took my money and gold. They even searched my daughters. It was our lifesavings. They took all of it. The 450,000 dinars were in my husband’s pocket and they took it. There were six batches of money they took from me and all of the gold. My parents had sold their home. I had hidden THIS money in my house in Mosul. When we were going up from Mosul they threatened us. They took our stuff and detained us along the way, like a checkpoint.

    ANNOUNCER: So, they took all the savings and everything?

    WIFE: Believe me, they stole everything. They said, “Let your Bishops give you money.” They demanded our Bishops initiate a ransom for us. They didn’t let us pay the jizya tax. They threatened us. If you saw the situation of Christians at checkpoints, you would cry. They were bringing more armed men to add more pressure on us.

    MAKRAM: What happened is, we were leaving Mosul. All the Christians were leaving. We went to Hamdaneya, stayed about 13 days, then [we] went to Erbil. From Erbil, we came to the church here, because this is the only place with a Coptic Church. Not just because of the church, but it’s also safer here. It’s safe and the people are good here.

    ANNOUNCER: Isn’t Erbil safe, too?

    MAKRAM: Erbil is dangerous and it’s not like here.

    ANNOUNCER: There were Shiites in Mosul? And, ISIS was killing Shiites?

    MAKRAM: Yes, they knew the Shiites and were killing them, particularly the police. They turned on each other. They turned on Islam. The Muslims despise [the police].

    ANNOUNCER: So, ISIS started out against Shiites and now they’re against Christians and Yazidis?

    MARKAM: Yes, ISIS doesn’t accept equality. They despise them in Mosul.

     There is precedent for the Church in helping the saints (poor) so affected by these persecutions:

     It is in this case directed by the same Apostle to the Gentiles who had first persecuted the church.

    1 Corinthians 16 English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Collection for the Saints
    16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

    Are you, dear believer, and your church willing to do something individually (and also corporately) now and consistently for those so in need?

    Please pray about this, my fellow saint.

    May we be the generous hands and open heart of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, to these, and to those who witness the love of Christ through us.

    Amen.

     

     

     

     

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