Category Archives: Current Events

It again struck.

Unreasoning, brutal and deadly, its calling card read “revenge for the honor” of the prophet Muhammad.

This time it was the Paris headquarters of a satirical newspaper that had dared to poke fun at the Prophet. Twelve people, including the editorial director, were killed. Three of the terrorists were later cornered and gunned down. But not before four other innocent victims lay dead on the floor of a kosher market.

France was stunned. Nothing like this had happened in a half century.

The civilized world recoiled and then united in defiant solidarity against terrorism. Millions marched in Paris and throughout the country. The mayor of the city made clear her determination to fight back. President Francois Hollande joined the leaders of Germany, Great Britain, Israel and representatives from more than 40 other nations, arm in arm, for the show of resolve.

And once again, pains were taken to explain that this was a united resistance only to “radical” Islam, not Islam itself.

With each attack, with each mindless invocation of Muhammad and each bloody cry for “Allah”, even the most reasonable are beginning to question this persistent premise.

Is it true?

Is the religion of Islam, the world’s second-largest with 1.57 billion followers, totally blameless in the rising tide of global butchery committed in the name of its god and his messenger?

Is it possible that the guilt-ridden and dangerous dogmas of political correctness and multiculturalism have blinded us to the stubborn facts – the unvarnished truth – about Islam? Have we, in the name of a false peace and uneasy co-existence, turned a blind eye to the troubling reality of this oftentimes fervent, harsh and unforgiving religion?

By embracing acceptance do we practice cowardice?

“Tolerance,” observed GK Chesterton, “is the virtue of a man without convictions.”

Ideas have consequences. And some of the ideas – and history – of Islam lend themselves to a stridency of belief and an extremism of behavior.

It is ideas that unite terrorists around the globe who repeatedly shriek that they are acting in the name of “Allah.” And when we see this religious violence committed in the name of a single religion – over and over again – we have every right – and the duty – to be aware, informed and suspicious.

And we have the moral obligation to condemn any religion that breeds this violence; whether it is deliberate or unwitting. The danger is no different.

If our political leaders had any spine they would stand up.

These attacks, such as the one in Paris, may appear to be isolated but they are in fact united. What unites them is a sworn hatred of Western civilization and of Christianity in particular.

Muhammad is diametrically opposed to Jesus Christ. They cannot both be God’s sole messenger.

In Pakistan last November, a young Christian couple, living in poverty, was beaten to death with hockey sticks, rods and crowbars by an angry Muslim crowd of more than a thousand. The couple had been accused of burning a Koran while disposing of trash.

Muslim clerics used loudspeakers to incite the crowd while the couple was held captive. After being clubbed to death, their bodies were burned in the kiln where they had labored their whole lives. They left three small children. She was pregnant.

Where then was the outrage of Islam at such an act? Where indeed has it been throughout the Middle East in the face of savage persecution of Christians?

Even the new president of Egypt warned imams that they must rise up and condemn this terror committed in the name of Islam or their religion will disintegrate in a cauldron of vengeance.

When Abraham, doubting God’s promise, listened to his wife and was intimate with her slave Hagar, the son they had, Ishmael, was destined for violence. “‘This son of yours will be a wild man,’” the angel told the pregnant Hagar, “‘as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives’” (Genesis 16:12, NLT).

Ishmael is the father of the Arab race – the progenitor of Islam. Hate and violence are his legacy.

“I have been ordered (by Allah),” declared Muhammad, “ to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle”

Blasphemy against Islam is a criminal act in many nations, punishable by death. Responsible Muslims must call for the abolition of these repressive laws.

There are many peace-loving Muslims and we must never hate anyone. The right to worship must be protected in this country – for everyone.

This must be the Christian response.

We must continue to evangelize Muslims – to lead them to the love of Jesus Christ and the freedom, grace and forgiveness that only he offers. This is both right and effective. Haggai Institute, the great ministry for which I work, has trained thousands of ex-Muslims in leadership for evangelism. At their grave peril, they spread the Good News to their friends, family and colleagues.

Many Muslims around the world have told of seeing the Savior in dreams and visions.

Yes, he loves and he comes. Yes, he comes to them too.

Let us pray that the scourge of religiously-inspired violence will end.

Let us love all people everywhere, as He wants us to.

And let us recognize the destructive danger of falsehood, the glorious power of truth and the triumphant reality that Jesus Saves!

May God bless you and your family.

It seems to mock the harsh reality of the world as we know it.

As we’ve always known it, from the very beginning.

In this season of hope, we’ll hear and see the words again and again – this joyously triumphant declaration sent from heaven itself.

First spoken by angels to frightened shepherds in the middle of a night suddenly ablaze with the glory of God, they reach the deepest yearnings of man’s highest aspiration.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Peace on earth?

Were the angels being intentionally ironic?

Were their words a wish, a hope or a prophecy?

In the midst of the Civil War, Longfellow wrote in his Christmas hymn, “And in despair I bowed my head. ‘ There is no peace on earth,’ I said. ‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’”

For Americans, 2014 has been an almost daily reminder of the strength of hate and the turbulence of war. Strife has been written in the headlines and announced at the top of the hour so often it has numbed us to the horror of its carnage.

Violence has become a grim expectancy.

Time and again throughout history the song has been mocked.

Woodrow Wilson’s “War to End All Wars” and his League of Nations were supposed to bring peace on earth. A generation later, the United Nations was intended to do the same.

The twentieth century was the bloodiest in history. The twenty-first has been gruesomely persistent. Wars engulf much of the world. In Iraq and Afghanistan, in Syria and Somalia; in Nigeria and in Pakistan, men are fueled by a mindless hostility that is snuffing out the lives of thousands every year.

Peace has been the elusive dream of humankind – and the tragic illusion of idealistic dreamers.

This is not to say we should not pursue peace, work for it and pray for it. Christians of all people should want to see peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

But Christmas reminds us that we must put peace in a much larger context.

When the choir of heaven’s angels heralded their vision it was to celebrate the Savior’s birth: “a Savior which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2: 11, KJV).

Peace apart from Jesus is impossible.

The announcement was delivered to those with whom God “is well-pleased.” Peace can come only to men and women “of good will, of His favor” (The Amplified Bible).

For all man’s good intentions and earnest endeavors, peace on this earth will always prove to be a fragile and transient thing.

The angels added the promise because the arrival of Jesus Christ was the confirmation that someday peace would come to earth and when it did it would be lasting because he would bring it.

The Jews call it Shalom.

This is much more than the absence of conflict. It includes the security and wellness of the whole community. Isaiah names the coming Messiah “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, KJV). The Message aptly describes him as “The Prince of Wholeness.” True peace, in the biblical sense, includes that meaning.

Only this Prince can bring that kind of peace.

For the follower of Jesus, peace need not be limited to a future millennium.

“Peace I leave with you,” Jesus promised his disciples on the night he was betrayed, “my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27, KJV). This would not be like the peace sought, negotiated or simulated by this disturbed world. It would go deeper, rise higher and stay longer than the world’s illusions.

When the great British statesman William Gladstone was asked how he maintained serenity in the midst of global turmoil, he said that a verse placed at the foot of his bed reminded him, every morning and every night, of the true source of peace:

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3, KJV).

It was the prophet Isaiah who foretold of the day when The Prince of Peace would judge among the nations of the earth. He saw a day when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4, KJV).

Instead, the peoples of the world would “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (verse 4, KJV).

The weapons of war will be melded into the instruments of peaceful renewal. Cultivation and harvest will replace destruction and violence. The celebration of life will replace the specter of death. The joy of a new day shall forever still the mournful cries of “Rachel weeping for her children” lost in battle.

And “of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end” (Isaiah 9:7, KJV).

Men will study war no more.

This is not some idealistic fantasy dependent on fallen man’s fond hopes, fruitless follies and broken treaties.

This is the eternal promise of God himself.

To know Christ is to know peace.

Not only peace in our hearts and minds but someday peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

May God bless you and your family.

She looked exhausted because she was.

It was 8:00AM.

She was dressed in a bathrobe and slippers, her hair was disheveled. The baby had been up a few times through the night – the final time early. Her little girl had demanded breakfast; it was hastily made.

The TV was playing cartoons.

It was the beginning of another day in the life of a young mother.

So the doorbell this early was more than an annoyance. It was an intrusion.

“Excuse me ma’am.” The man at the door was neatly manicured and organized. He held a clipboard and offered a polite smile. “I’m in the neighborhood this morning helping to conduct a public opinion survey. What do you think is the most serious problem facing America today? Is it ignorance or is it apathy?”

The little girl appeared at the doorway, clutching her mother’s bathrobe and staring at the man. The baby sucked on a bottle contentedly in the mother’s arms.

The young woman breathed a gentle sigh.

“I don’t know,” she answered, “and this morning I don’t really care.”

We appreciate the humorous irony and candor of the reply.

“Yes,” we think, “that’s just how I feel sometimes.”

Here we all are in this country – once again – just a few days away from another national election. The airwaves are filled with campaign ads – attacking, bragging and begging.

Most of us are concerned about the direction of our nation – and the unsettled and dangerous state of the world. The President’s approval rating is low – almost as low as Congress.

We don’t like the way things are.

We want change.

We don’t know who can deliver it; we’re not sure anyone can.

Americans are angry with Washington and its repeated failures – and disillusioned.

This is good campaign weather for ignorance and apathy.

Vote?

As someone said, “It only encourages them.”

Millions will stay away from the polls next Tuesday. Don’t you be one of them.

For all her faults – and the weaknesses of her leaders – America remains the greatest, freest and most wonderful nation on earth. And being an American isn’t just some lucky break, it is a continuing responsibility.

In a free land, duty is the greatest privilege of citizenship. And our greatest duty is to vote.

We are able to openly complain; we have the right to speak and criticize and tell others – including the government – what we think because of the vote.

We declared ourselves a free and independent nation because our founders voted to make us so.

We created the greatest form of self-government in the history of the world because the men who bravely fought to make us free voted to keep us that way. The Constitution of the United States came into being through a vote. So did the Bill of Rights.

And the expansions and protections of American freedom came to us through the vote. The Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was adopted only after vigorous debate – and a vote.

African-Americans, women and young people gained the right to vote only after others voted to give them that right.

Of all the rights that make us free – and define us as a republic- none matters more than the right – and the sacred duty – to vote.

Of all the acts of citizenship that have shaped our history, raised up our leaders and marked our destiny as a nation, none have played a more important role than voting.

As believers in a transcendent and sovereign God, we do not place our final faith in the efficacy of politics and government. Christians, of all people, should not permit an earthbound attitude to overtake our heavenly hope and rob us of our joy in the midst of national despair.

Our confidence is not in a platform, a candidate, a movement or a party. We do not trust politics to bring us salvation. Nor do we look to government to meet the deepest needs of the soul. Sometimes we have to learn – and re-learn – that lesson the hard way.

The psalmist warns us:

“Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there…When they breathe their last [reminding us of the fragile mortality of even the greatest leaders], they return to the earth and all their plans die with them….But joyful are those whose hope is in the Lord their God.” [Psalm 146: 3-5, NLT].

Still, the scriptures underscore the importance of good citizenship – and our responsibility to honor government.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2, KJV).

While God governs in the affairs of nations, each of us must do our part in determining that outcome. No one can read Romans 13 without appreciating the importance God places on government and citizenship; on each one of us being accountable for our political freedom.

Every vote counts; every election matters.

And so many of them are so very close.

Not to vote – no matter how we may feel at the moment about our choices – is to sin against the Author of our liberty.

Don’t forget this coming Tuesday.

Who knows, maybe you’ll see that young mother at the polls.

May God bless you and your family.

 

Who dares to disagree with her?

Annise Parker demands to know.

They will be found out. They may be prosecuted. They will most assuredly be persecuted.

Pastors – ministers of the Gospel – were ordered by legal subpoena to turn over their sermons.

That’s right – their sermons – to the courts for careful inspection.

This didn’t happen in Russia or in North Korea or in Iran.

It happened in Houston, Texas – in the buckle of the Bible Belt. It happened in the land of the free.

It happened in Thomas Jefferson’s America.

Annise Parker, the openly – gay mayor of Houston, couldn’t stand the fact that five pastors in her city have the temerity to oppose a city ordinance, known as “the bathroom ordinance.” This latest step toward legitimizing the bizarre permits transgendered people – those uncertain and/or unhappy about their sexual physiology – to be able to use the restrooms of their choice.

Quite understandably, some Houstonians object to this. Not because they are angry bigots but because they are intelligent people – and because even craziness must have its limits.

 The ministers supported a petition drive to place the ordinance on the ballot so all Houston voters could have their say on this controversy.

That seems fair enough.

City officials questioned some of the petition signatures so the referendum proponents went to court to have the question placed on the local ballot.

Keep in mind that the pastors were not part of this lawsuit.

Instead of questioning the legality of the signatures, city lawyers went after the ministers.

Originally the pastors were ordered to turn over “all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity.”

That’s a wide swath.

Everything they had ever said or written about these subjects would now be scrutinized.

Every jot and tittle.

Unbelievable!

In the face of a very loud public outcry, the city’s lawyers amended their demand.

Now they only want “all speeches or presentations related to” the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance “, or the Petition, prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by” the pastors or in their possession.

Well, that’s a relief!

These deniers of free speech and religious liberty now only want “all speeches or presentations” made by the pastors.

What is a sermon if not a speech and a presentation?

Is this not a distinction without a difference?

The troubling audacity of this demand is rivaled only by its comic imbecility.

Every authentic civil libertarian – including those who are gay or transgendered – should be appalled by this callous and arrogant trampling of the First Amendment.

Every true lover of liberty must be outraged at this naked attempt to intimidate free speech.

And every Christian in this country should be awakened from his complacency, chastened for his ignorance and spirited by his courage.

The Apostle Paul told the Christians living in a wicked and perverse time:

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (I Corinthians 16:13, NKJV).

The Houston Five have done this. Who will join them?

Mayor Parker tweeted that if pastors speak out on questions of morality and seek to influence their direction, then their sermons “are fair game” to the government.

And it’s not just their sermons that are under assault, but – by logical extension – their convictions, their beliefs; their very faith.

It’s hastening sooner than expected, this hour of choosing.

Not only for five pastors in Houston – but for us all.

This incident is not some over-zealous aberration. It’s a precursor.

The powerful movement to redefine morality in America seeks not simply tolerance or acceptance. It has already largely achieved that with breathtaking speed. To salve a guilty conscience – for Nature itself can never rescind its own teaching – these advocates of cultural enlightenment seek approval.

They seek moral parity.

They demand that the rest of us openly renounce our beliefs, admit we’ve been wrong all this time, and apologize.

They will stop at nothing less.

Mayor Parker is the one who owes Houston an apology – and her resignation. Any elected official driven more by a passion for her agenda and a hatred for her adversaries than a respect for the Constitution of the United States is unfit for public office.

The God who stood by the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel is the God who stands by us. The God who protected Daniel and the three young Hebrews in their quiet civil disobedience is the same God who guides our steps and secures our way.

He will give us the courage and the strength to stand for him.

You and I must first be willing to do that.

When city officials ordered them not to preach Christianity, Peter and John replied “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, KJV).

The implications of this higher allegiance are profound and often costly. The soil of the church has been soaked by the blood of the martyrs.

And today believers in the Middle East have been given a choice: renounce their faith or suffer the sword.

Silent neutrality – and a “cheap grace” – will win us the nodding approval of those who know we pose no threat to their purposes.

God help us to take sides.

May God bless you and your family.

 

 

 

James Bain was smiling.

It was a weary but broad smile. It was a smile of relief. He was going home. James Bain was a free man. And the national media was present in Florida to record the event.

In 1974, when he was 19 years old, Bain was convicted for the kidnapping and rape of a nine-year old boy. He was sentenced to life in prison. After serving 35 years behind bars, Bain, now gray-haired and balding, was cleared by DNA evidence. He was 54. Tests showed that he could not possibly have committed the crime.

A judge set him free.

Criminal records revealed that Mr. Bain had served longer in prison than any of the 246 prison inmates previously cleared by DNA evidence. In 1974, DNA testing didn’t exist. Neither did cell phones. So Bain made his first-ever cell phone call upon his release. He called his 77- year old mother to let her know that he was free and that he would see her soon.

One might wonder what went through James Bain’s mind when he first learned that he would go free — or through his heart. Thirty-five years is a long time to sit in prison for a crime you didn’t commit. It’s a big chunk of life. James Bain went to prison as a teenager the year that Richard Nixon resigned as president. Elvis Pressley was still alive. Bain left prison, seven presidents later, as a middle-aged man eligible for membership in the AARP.

James Bain spent three and a half decades of his life in prison as an innocent man.

The American justice system said he had done it. James Bain knew he hadn’t. A court said he was wrong. He knew he was right.

Bain had plenty of time to think –and to feel. He had plenty of time to become bitter and angry and resentful. He had plenty of time to wallow deeply in despair and self-pity. If anyone could claim to be an authentic victim of injustice, it was James Bain. If anyone had the right to be filled with anger it was this man.

As the reporters gathered around him as he walked through the doors of the dark prison into the bright sunshine of freedom, they asked Bain how he felt, what he thought. He smiled and shook his head. “I’m not angry”, he said quietly, “Because I’ve got God.”

Faith makes a difference in every person’s life. For James Bain, faith in God made all the difference.

I don’t know if Bain ever read a Bible during those 35 long years. But if he did, perhaps he came across Psalm 31:7:

“I will be glad in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.” [NLT, emphasis added].

God knew James Bain was innocent. And God cared.

Maybe Bain read what Peter wrote about Jesus and his suffering:

“He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” [I Peter 2:22-23, NLT].

Jesus, who has been touched fully by the feelings of our own infirmities – who knows our hurts and disappointments; our grief and our sorrows, has left us his example. There is nothing theoretical about anything Our Lord tells us to do.

He has been through it all himself.

When James Bain sat in that prison cell – day after day, week after week and month after month – Jesus was there with him, knowing, understanding and comforting. And when the months turned into long years, Jesus never left James; Jesus never got bored or tired or distracted.

When James cried Jesus wept with him.

One of the most difficult things in the whole world is to suffer injustice quietly. It’s in our nature to lash out, to retaliate, to jump to our own defense and to want to even the score.

We struggle mightily sometimes with our vengeful spirits, fueled by pride and a demand for our own justice.

Jesus would have none of it. The Maker and Ruler of the universe stood in silence before his puny and strutting accusers. The Spirit he displayed is the One he has given us; the Spirit who fills and animates us and wants to control us.

He who had done no wrong “left his case in the hands of God”

That’s where we must leave ours.

It’s likely that no one reading this will ever spend 35 years in prison for something he didn’t do. But perhaps you sometimes feel mistreated, misunderstood or all alone. Maybe you figure there’s no one who sees or appreciates the anguish you’re going through. Maybe you’re living in a private prison that is unknown to anyone but you.

God cares about the anguish of your soul. He knows your heartache and discouragement. He loves you and will go with you through your anguish. He will comfort you. In Jesus, God experienced the suffering of injustice. Leave your case in his hands. God always judges fairly.

He will set you free.

May God bless you and your family.

“We do not want to see more killing and destruction”.

Aya Ridwa is 25 years old and a student. She lives in Gaza.

The nation of Israel has been bombing Gaza for over a week. Nearly two hundred Palestinians have died in these Israeli airstrikes. Israel has repeatedly warned civilians in the region to evacuate. Unlike the army in Iraq, Israel has no doubt about what it is doing or why. Nor is there any question in anyone’s mind about Israel’s superb military capability or the country’s willingness to use it to defend itself.

This has always been true of the brave little nation that sits in the crosshairs of the Middle East surrounded by its enemies.

One critic described Israel’s assault upon the militant group Hamas as “shooting fish in a barrel”.

But Hamas, which governs Gaza, has been bombing Israel, hiding its weapons among civilian populations, even in mosques, and has rejected an Egyptian-sponsored cease-fire that Israel accepted. If the kid on the playground who is pummeling you bloody offers to stop, why in the world would you say no? And if you picked the fight in the first place, what in the world would you expect?

Israel has never lost a war since it became a state in 1948.

It is a peace-loving nation but it is no pacifist. It has no hair trigger but it does have a steady aim. Israel has always understood its constant danger, living as a sheep among ravenous wolves. It’s been well-armed and ready throughout its history – a history that teaches that religious-based differences among nations are the most threatening.

Nowhere on earth has this been truer for thousands of years than in the Mideast. Once again the region is boiling. And with each conflict – whether in Syria, Libya, Iraq or Israel – the world edges closer to Armageddon.

The Middle East is the geopolitical storm center of the twenty-first century. Israel is its eye. That’s because Israel remains in someone else’s eye.

“For the people of Israel belong to the Lord,” Moses sang.“Jacob is his special possession” (Deuteronomy 32: 9, New Living Translation).

God found the Jewish people “in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them …” (vs. 10, NLT).

God “surrounded” Israel. He still does.

God “watched over” Israel. He still does.

God “guarded” Israel. Today he still does.

God keeps Israel – even now – “as the apple of his eye” (vs. 10, King James Version, emphasis added).

There are those, including many evangelical theologians and leaders, who argue otherwise. They subscribe to what is called Replacement Theology (or Supersessionism) – the belief that since Christ came to inaugurate a New Covenant, Israel has ceased to be God’s chosen people, replaced – and superseded – instead by the Church. Christian believers are indeed the beneficiaries of God’s promises to Abraham, “blessed with faithful Abraham” through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:9, KJV). Abraham, because of his faith in God, “is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16, KJV).

As followers of Jesus, you and I are “heirs according to the promise” made to the patriarch (Galatians 3:29, KJV). We too are God’s children and his chosen people. We too enter into covenant relationship with him by faith. Nothing that God has done through Christ in his church has changed God’s special relationship with the people he chose for his very own so long ago.

God still has a plan for Israel. God still loves Israel. God still protects Israel. This is as crystal clear and as relevant as tomorrow’s headlines. Watch and see if it is not so. While we must pray for peace and love all people everywhere, including those in Arab lands, God’s prophetic purpose continues to unfold. God will never abandon Israel and woe to those who would assail her, for “he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8, KJV, emphasis added).

Why?

What made Israel so special as to be chosen by the almighty Creator of the universe to enter into particular covenant relationship with him? Moses explained it to the people:

“The Lord did not set his heart upon you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you …” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8, NLT).

This is God’s sovereign and gracious choice.

“For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his special treasure” (vs. 6, NLT, emphasis added).

What was – and continues to be – true of Israel is also true of you and of me and of all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. We are, writes Peter, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people …” (I Peter 2:9, KJV).

You too are the apple of his eye.

Why? It’s “simply that the Lord loves you”.