Roundup

MUST-READ: Why Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world

Virtually every human rights group and Western government agency that monitors the plight of Christians worldwide arrives at more or less the same conclusion: Between 200 million and 230 million of them face daily threats of murder, beating, imprisonment and torture, and a further 350 to 400 million encounter discrimination in areas such as jobs and housing. A conservative estimate of the number of Christians killed for their faith each year is somewhere around 150,000.

Christians are “the largest single group in the world which is being denied human rights on the basis of their faith,” the World Evangelical Alliance has noted.

Christians face harassment in more countries “than any other religious group,” a Pew Forum spokesperson told the Star.

Put in sharper focus, “at least” 75 per cent of all religious persecution in the world is directed against Christians, the conference was told.

Christians are commanded to remember other Christians persecuted for their faith.

Reason # 127 to dislike unions: New York Public Unions DELIBERATELY fouled blizzard cleanup as ploy to demand more money from taxpayers

Reason # 128 to dislike unions: Child Molesting Teacher Can’t Be Fired Thanks to Union – Your tax dollars at work, paying this creep $100,000 per year to do nothing.

How can we win the war on poverty? This is a very important and not-that-complicated lesson.  The greatest and saddest irony is that those most vocal about injustice and reducing poverty are the ones who caused the problem to begin with: The theological liberals.

What could be the problem? Well, think of welfare as a cash payment given to women who have have babies with men who they chose knowing that those men were not interested in becoming fathers or husbands. Women are having sex with men and having babies with men who have not married them and have no intention of marrying them. And the government is paying them to do this. The government is paying them to oppose chastity. The government is paying them to avoid courting. The government is paying them to avoid chivalry. The government is paying them to avoid marriage.

From the “blog title says it all” category: Obamacare foreshadow: “It remains unclear if the man would have been able to keep his penis if he had been able to schedule a medical appointment sooner than five months after he noticed a problem”.

Handy list of refutations of the New Atheists – Hat tip: Apologetics315

How does the communist government in China treat its citizens? – Short answer: Horribly.  This should be must reading for any kids wearing their “cool” Che t-shirts.  It also gives me a good excuse to re-post this favorite:

The quintessential example of media bias for the 2010 election cycle – The stories of Christine O’Donnell and Alvin Greene had remarkable similarities.  Why did most people only hear about one from the media and the comedians?

Evolutionists and the Giraffe’s Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve – It is amusing how many Darwinists unwittingly pose as theologians.  Just watch how often they tell you how a “real” God wouldn’t have done this or that.  And watch how often they are proved wrong yet don’t learn their lessons.

More Harmful Actions Planned From the Homosexual Agenda – sometimes I hate being right.  This is exactly the thing I’ve been warning people of for years.  Naïve Christians were too afraid to stand up for the truth and this is what we get.

California – headquarters of perversion – is at it again.  A state senator is proposing a bill, SB48, which will strongly promote the “GLBT” movement in public schools but will cause harm to those who disagree with such perversions by not allowing parents to opt their children out of discussions about these disgusting lifestyles.

Not only that, but textbooks must be rewritten so as to insure the perverted sexual behavior is highlighted if any of these deviants contributed anything to the history of the United States – as if their sexual proclivities had anything to do with it.  Oh, and the textbooks must also “include details about the homosexual movement.”

Reducing poverty

How can we win the war on poverty? This is a very important and not-that-complicated lesson.  The greatest and saddest irony is that those most vocal about injustice and reducing poverty are the ones who caused the problem to begin with: The theological liberals like false teachers Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistributionWallis and race-baiting Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie.  They continually advance programs that make the problems worse.  They teach the opposite of what God’s word said on human sexuality and we see the devastating consequences every day.

And it isn’t just poverty.  I see the impacts of this in prison ministry and pregnancy center ministries as well.  The liberal policies increase the number of victims and are the opposite of “social justice.”

What could be the problem? Well, think of welfare as a cash payment given to women who have have babies with men who they chose knowing that those men were not interested in becoming fathers or husbands. Women are having sex with men and having babies with men who have not married them and have no intention of marrying them. And the government is paying them to do this. The government is paying them to oppose chastity. The government is paying them to avoid courting. The government is paying them to avoid chivalry. The government is paying them to avoid marriage.

Good news about spreading the Good News

As I mentioned in my summary of our Kenya mission trip, one of the highlights was taking a Proclaimer audio Bible device to the local hospital (see the portion of the original post below).  I was thrilled to get this follow-up email today from the hospital chaplain.  We’ll definitely be taking many more Proclaimers when we go back in the Summer of 2011.

I am fine and doing well both at home and at work. I wish to apologize for keeping you so long on the request you made. I was away in DRC (Congo) for mission the time the mail arrived and when i came back the demands of work and internet problem gave me a challenge.

Let me say we have been using the device and its demand is too high especially in the local church. The one you left us is only used within the hospital and if we could get others we would really appreciate. Our department was thinking if we had an intercom in the hospital we would only use one proclaimer by putting it in one place and connecting it to all the wards for all the patients to listen to the message at the same time. This would be of great help especially because the staffing is not adequate in chaplaincy unit.

For now i can say we are using the device to the maximum. We sometimes leave it with the patients after showing them how to use and they really like it. Thanks a lot to you and those who donate them. They are a great way of taking the word of God to the people.

Receive new year wishes from Maua methodist hospital, church and the chaplaincy unit.

Looking forward to seeing you next year.

God bless you.

Rev Alice

If you go on mission trips or just have a passion for getting God’s word out to be who are eager to hear it, please look into the Faith Comes By Hearing organization.  You can get free audio downloads of the New Testament and play them on your computer or iPod, or you can donate to help spread the Word.

We also took some of their mini-devices (sort of like a small iPod that only plays the Bible) and gave them to our World Vision Sponsor child and his family.  One was in Swahili and one was in English.  He just wrote and told me he is using it regularly as he buses to his college classes and back.  What a joy! 

From the original post

The Proclaimer – getting the word of God out to those who don’t read.  This is one of my favorite parts of the trip. Faith Comes By Hearing translates the Bible into dozens of languages. You can download New Testament versions for free. They give away these "Proclaimer" devices so that illiterate people can hear the word of God in their languages. As noted at the bottom, these can be AC or solar powered so they can be used over and over almost anywhere.

This picture is of Reverend Alice, the hospital chaplain, explaining it to a group of patients and their children. She plans to play the Bible in Kiswahili for them regularly and to set it outside for when the patients go in the sun to warm up. She will also take it to remote locations so they can hear the word. I hope we can take more the next time.

I’m a firm believer in Isaiah 55:10-11

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

From their website:

How does the Proclaimer work? An installed microchip contains Scriptures in the heart language; the chip will not erase or wear out from frequent playing.

The battery will play for 15 hours and can be recharged enough times to play the entire New Testament more than 1,000 times.

The Proclaimer has a built-in generator and solar panel to charge the battery.

The solar panel, in addition to charging the battery, will run the Proclaimer even without battery power as long as there is sunlight.

The sound is digital quality and loud enough to be heard clearly by groups as large as 300.

The Proclaimer was developed primarily as a playback device for poor and illiterate people who may not have any other source to hear God’s Word. Our goal is to use the Proclaimer in the majority of our FCBH programs worldwide.

Very few of these people read, but now they can hear the transforming and powerful word of God. I never get tired of that.

Pro-life responses: Easier than you think.

This pro-abortion site reflexively
used three transparently false arguments. You’ll hear them
from many pro-choicers, even those who (sadly) claim the name of
Christ. Either they know they are false and use them anyway, or
they have used them without thinking critically. Here are
some simple but accurate responses to use when you hear them. 1.
“Pro-lifers oppose the bodily autonomy of women” –
That ignores the bodily autonomy of the human being that is going
to be crushed and dismembered.
The argument plays on
the emotional “conservatives want to control women!” theme.
It would only work if it wasn’t a scientific
fact
that the unborn are human beings from conception.
The “personhood” argument used to
de-humanize the unborn is a heaping does of philosophical FAIL, but
even if it wasn’t it commits another fallacy by equivocating
between body and personhood. 2. “Pro-lifers oppose
reproductive rights” — Uh, but abortions occur when they have
already reproduced a human
being
(there’s that pesky scientific fact
again). We don’t oppose women exercising their right to
reproduce. We oppose the destruction of the human beings they
have already reproduced. 3. “Pro-lifers have a fetus
fetish,” which is a variant of the
pro-lifers don’t care about kids
after they are
born

fallacy.
Simply ask the person making that claim,
“Do you have to be willing to take complete responsibility for
human beings you are trying to protect? Can you protest the
abuse of the homeless, spouses, children or pets without having to
provide unlimited care for them all?” As noted in the link,
pro-lifers do a great deal with their own time and money to help
women and families in need. Also, unless the pro-choicers
are advocating forced abortions, the same burden to care for the
babies allowed to live falls on them. But the pro-choice
argument fails even if we didn’t help out.

Why the decline in church attendance?

See Why I don’t want to come to your church.  The money slide:

Presbyterian study – why people stay in church: In our study, the single best predictor of church participation turned out to be belief – orthodox Christian belief, and especially the teaching that a person can be saved only through Jesus Christ.

Virtually all our baby boomers who believe this are active members of a church.

That’s one reason I focus so much on the exclusivity of Jesus and blast the false teachers who deny this.  The only good news is that the fakes will keep shrinking.

There are 100+ passages in the New Testament that state directly or indirectly that Jesus is the only way to salvation (I submit that the NT doesn’t make sense outside that idea).

And of course the Old Testament has nearly continuous reminders not to worship other gods.  Of course, repeating things a lot isn’t what makes them true.  We trust in the truth of Christianity because we believe that Jesus really rose from the dead.

But the abundance and clarity of those passages means that anyone claiming the name of Christ should hold those views.  Anyone denying them is either a false teacher or is saved and very, very confused.

The key is to preach the truth of God all day, every day.  If we really believe in God then that should be obvious.  Church attendance will then take care of itself.  The churches playing the bait-and-switch game – and worse yet, forgetting to switch – mock the cross.

 

Steve Jobs, Big Brother

See From Iconic to Ironic – Steve Jobs Transformation into Big Brother | NOM Blog.

Apparently Apple Computers “got the memo” that it is “OK” to discriminate against Christians. Leading that charge is their Chairman/CEO Steve Jobs. Despite one of the highest positive ratings available (4+), Apple pulled an app developed by the Manhattan Declaration—a group of 500,000 Christians who have publicly declared their support for traditional marriage, life and religious liberty—from their iTunes store.

. . .

What’s offensive is the action of Steve Jobs. Jobs allows applications in support of gay marriage and abortion. Planned Parenthood has an app, so do several gay marriage groups. There’s an app to sign petitions to repeal Proposition 8 in California. And there is even an app coming to allow gay marriage backers to “report” priests and pastors who preach about the sanctity of marriage!

Group of 99% whites raises money to destroy group of 76% blacks. Anyone else find that creepy?

As Jill Stanek noted:

“a predominantly White organization raises funds to help kill babies in a predominately Black city.” This seemed apparent by all the Caucasian attendees noted in the video as well as the party photos DCAF posted.

Anyone else wonder why the mainstream media doesn’t find that newsworthy, especially given their obsession with alleged TEA Party racism?  On the surface, would that seem a bit racist to anyone?  Is it a coincidence that Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a eugenicist?

Great timing

I was just thinking this morning about how false teachers have so few Christmas songs to choose from.  After all, so many have good theology about Jesus being King of Kings and Lord of Lords, a virgin birth, a Savior, reconciling God and sinners, etc.  The poor fakes don’t believe any of that!

So it is no surprise that false teacher Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie writes about a John Lennon song,  Happy X-Mas (Revisited).

I love the Beatles but John Lennon was no Christian (unless he had some last second conversion).  Of course a fake like Chuck would look for wisdom from someone like that.

The silence of false teachers on Christian persecution

See MUST-READ: Why Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world « Wintery Knight.

Virtually every human rights group and Western government agency that monitors the plight of Christians worldwide arrives at more or less the same conclusion: Between 200 million and 230 million of them face daily threats of murder, beating, imprisonment and torture, and a further 350 to 400 million encounter discrimination in areas such as jobs and housing. A conservative estimate of the number of Christians killed for their faith each year is somewhere around 150,000.

Christians are “the largest single group in the world which is being denied human rights on the basis of their faith,” the World Evangelical Alliance has noted.

Christians face harassment in more countries “than any other religious group,” a Pew Forum spokesperson told the Star.

Put in sharper focus, “at least” 75 per cent of all religious persecution in the world is directed against Christians, the conference was told.

Have you noticed how false teachers like Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistributionWallis and race-baiting Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie whine about every little perceived injustice against non-Christians, lawbreakers and people who are reaping the consequences of bad decisions, yet do nothing about the persecuted church?

Chuck and false churches like the UCC think all religions are valid paths to God.  But “pluralistic Christians” (an oxymoron if there ever was one) would send out reverse missionaries on the Great De-Commission if they really believed what they said.  Those fakes don’t care about anyone but themselves.

The “No Nukes” crowd: Still clueless

Via World Council of Churches Praises United States For Ratification of New Start Treaty by false teacher Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie, the World Council of (mostly apostate) Churches expresses their ridiculously naive worldview:

Progress is long overdue on another step that President Obama and many other leaders link to the vision of a world without nuclear weapons – a treaty to stop production of fuel for nuclear bombs. It has been stalled at the Conference on Disarmament here in Geneva for years. In nuclear disarmament as in climate change, when powerful countries provide leadership with accountability their example helps others to do likewise.

Sure.  Because you can totally trust countries like Iran and N. Korea. Even if they signed treaties, how would you enforce them?  They’d have the nukes and you wouldn’t.

National Defense should be left to adults who have a biblical worldview.  Those people don’t trust what Jesus said about the world, but that’s no surprise.  Those people think Jesus endorses sodomy and crushing and dismembering innocent human beings if they are unwanted.

Peace through strength, people.

Update: Some views by a Navy Vice Admiral

President Barack Obama was outmaneuvered by the Russians and should have abandoned the New START negotiations instead of seeking a political victory, says former nuclear plans monitor Vice Admiral Jerry Miller, USN (Ret).