Eight Christians killed by Muslims in Nigeria

Muslims recently attacked Christian villages and killed at least eight Christians in Kaduna and Plateau states of northern Nigeria. On July 3, five believers, including a primary school teacher and mother of six children, were killed by Muslims in Kizachi village in Kaduna State. The Muslims also burned down five homes belonging to Christians. Local sources reported that the police had stopped protecting the village on July 2 after the government failed to pay their salaries.

The next evening, Muslims armed with guns and machetes invaded Ganawuri community, near Jos. Three Christians are presumed to be dead. A spokesperson of the Nigerian military’s Special Task Force (STF) said the attackers were suspected herdsmen from neighbouring communities of Kaduna State. STF received an emergency call and, upon response, a fire fight ensued with the attackers. One of the attackers was shot and six were arrested. Those arrested have since been handed over to the state police for further investigations.

This latest violence came on the heels of a March 7 attack against Christians in Jos in which approximately 500 people, mainly women and children, were murdered (click here for more information). It is estimated that many more thousands of Christians have been killed in northern Nigeria since the introduction of Shariah law in 2001. (Source: International Christian Concern)

Please pray against further violence and unrest in Nigeria. Ask the Lord to give strength and wisdom to those in authority to help them deal with this situation. Pray that He will comfort those who are suffering. Pray that the Lord will use the testimony of believers in Nigeria to strengthen His church and greatly add to its number.

For more information on persecution in Nigeria, please visit the Nigeria Country Report.

Muslims kill Christian woman and children in Pakistan

A Christian woman and her four children were murdered by a Muslim mob in Jhelum, Pakistan after her 11-year-old son was accused of committing blasphemy. On June 21, the Christian boy went to the local store to buy laundry detergent. The shopkeeper, upon learning the boy was a Christian, refused to sell any products to him. When the boy returned home and informed his mother of the incident, she phoned her husband — Jamshed Masih — and asked him to rush home from work. Before he was able to return, Muslim residents arrived at the family’s home and accused the boy of committing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. When Jamshed’s wife argued against the accusation, they killed her and the children — two boys and two girls. Authorities are reportedly too fearful of the local Muslim leader to file charges. The family had earlier been warned by the Muslim leader to leave the predominately Muslim area. (Source: Compass Direct)

Please pray the Lord will comfort Jamshed. Pray that he will not despair but be strengthened by God’s Word. Pray the Lord will bring His peace amid this terrible injustice. Pray the Lord will give wisdom to those in authority to know how to deal with the violence and injustice being perpetrated against the Christian population. You can post a prayer for Jamshed on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

Learn more about the plight of Pakistani Christians at the Pakistan Country Report.

Christian woman brutally attacked in India

A Christian woman, Amodini, was brutally attacked on July 6 for sharing her faith in Karnataka, India. Amodini (40) is a member of a church where a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary serves as pastor. She was at her home when a group of 15 men arrived and began accusing her of forcing people to convert to Christianity. They then grabbed and began to beat her. Witnesses of the horrific scene said, "Amodini’s clothes were removed in public and she was attacked with knives." At last report, she was hospitalized and in critical condition. Police have arrested 14 of the accused attackers. (Source: Assist News Service)

The believers in the area ask for prayers for Amodini, that the Lord would heal her wounds. They also ask that the peace of God will keep her firm in her faith. Pray also for the men who so cruelly attacked her. Pray that they will repent and turn to Christ. Pray that believers in India will continue to be bold in sharing the Gospel amid violent opposition.

Click here to find out more about persecution in India.

Driscoll is a little rough …..and quite funny….as usual ..and he nails so many things right….especially when he challenges “guys” to stop defining themselves by what they consume and start defining themselves in light of who God made them to be … to be producers instead of consumers, and givers instead of takers. 

You’re the glory of God. What does it mean to be a man? John is a great example. He doesn’t waste his teens and his twenties downloading free porn, racking up his credit card debt, spending seven years to knock out his undergrad degree, trying to be the king of the fantasy football or baseball league, determined to pound more beers at happy hour and conquer more women than all the other guys to show he’s a real man. That’s no man at all. It’s a boy who could shave.

John shows us what a real man is. He’s filled with the Spirit. He humbly prepares the way for Jesus. He’s an evangelist who makes it his life work to introduce others to Jesus. He’s a man who ultimately is a giver and not a taker. He’s a producer, not a consumer. See, men, you are to be creators and cultivators. If you want to image God, your God is a creator and a cultivator. You create a marriage and you cultivate that woman. You create a child with her and you cultivate that child. You create a new family legacy for generations and you cultivate it. You create a business and you cultivate it. You create a ministry and you cultivate it. You want to be a man? You’re a creator and a cultivator. You’re a producer, not a consumer. You’re a giver, not a taker. You bring life, not death. You’re not looking for the path of least resistance. You’re looking for the path of greatest glory to God. You take it like John did.

Summary: Richard Settersten and Barbara Ray examine the lengthening transition to adulthood over the past several decades, as well as the challenges the new schedule poses for young people, families, and society.

The authors begin with a brief history of becoming an adult, noting that the schedule that youth follow to arrive at adulthood changes to meet the social realities of each era. For youth to leave home at an early age during the 1950s, for example, was "normal" because opportunities for work were plentiful and social expectations of the time reinforced the need to do so. But the prosperity that made it possible for young adults of that era to move quickly into adult roles did not last. The economic and employment uncertainties that arose during the 1970s complicated enormously the decisions that young adults had to make about living arrangements, educational investments, and family formation.

The authors next take a closer look at changes in the core timing shifts in the new transition—the lengthening time it now takes youth to leave home, complete school, enter the workforce, marry, and have children. They stress that today’s new schedule for attaining independence leaves many families overburdened as they support their children for an extended period. The continued need to rely on families for financial assistance, the authors say, exacerbates the plight of young people from a variety of vulnerable backgrounds. It also raises complex questions about who is responsible for the welfare of young people and whether the risks and costs newly associated with the early adult years should be absorbed by markets, by families, or by governments.

Settersten and Ray stress that the longer transition to adulthood strains not only families but also the institutions that have traditionally supported young Americans in making that transition—such as residential colleges and universities, community colleges, military service, and national service programs. They emphasize the need to strengthen existing social institutions and create new ones to reflect more accurately the realities of a longer and more complex passage into adult life.

This is an important article that we should all have in mind as we ponder how our culture is changing and how that effects how we can reach people with the Gospel. We should be asking ourselves..in what ways have things like financial “security”, “getting rich”, “independence”, or “economic  progress”  been idols for us? How much time and energy do we spend thinking about them? How much time and energy do we spend thinking about these things compared to the time and energy we spend thinking about ….and worshiping …. Jesus? How are we reacting as these idols fail us? What will it mean for us to be more “inter-dependent”?  How will the failure of these idols open us up to new opportunities to lead people to our greatest treasure? (Matthew 6:19-34; Matthew 13:44-52; John 14:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4: 1-11).

You can read the entire article HERE.

You can read an executive summary of the entire journal in PDF format HERE.

You can read more about this effort  HERE and HERE.

I found these comments quite interesting:

Taking tangents from different parts of the nasal cavity reveals how long the nose was. In Santa’s case, this was particularly tough because his nose was badly broken. "It must have been a very hefty blow because it’s the nasal bones between the eyes that are broken," says Wilkinson

Quite how St Nicholas got his injury is a mystery, but Wilkinson says tales abound of Santa being something of a rebel. "I heard he once punched a bishop," she says. The reconstructed St Nicholas is olive-skinned and white-haired, with a beard shaped in a style popular in the fourth century. "It’s only really the broken nose people are surprised about, but the more I hear about his character, the more it all fits."

A possible source for the broken nose may have been the altercation between him and Arius at the First Council of Nicaea, over what later was deemed the heresy of Arianism.

The standard practice for both public and private prayer is to speak so as to be heard by the person with whom you are talking.  Prayer is verbal because it is relational. Prayer per se is not a psychological experience of contemplative immersion in an inner silence beyond words. It is a verbal connection with someone you know, need and love.

I’ve known many people whose relationship with God was significantly transformed as they started to speak up with their Father. Previously, “prayer” fizzled out in the internal buzz of self-talk and distractions, worries and responsibilities. Previously, what they thought of as prayer involved certain religious feelings, or a set of seemingly spiritual thoughts, or a vague sense of comfort, awe and dependency on a higher power. Prayer meandered, and was virtually indistinguishable from thoughts. Sometimes it was indistinguishable from anxieties and obsessions! Sometimes prayer was confused with the act of stopping to ponder quietly and collect yourself. But as a person begins to talk aloud to the God who is there, who is not silent, who listens, and who acts, he or she begins to deal with him person-to-person. Speaking up is no gimmick or technique (and other ingredients also contribute to wise, intelligent, purposeful, fervent prayer). But out loud prayer becomes living evidence of an increasingly honest and significant relationship. As you become vocal, your faith grows up.

You can read the entire post HERE.

This series has five parts:

1. Four Ways to Live Your Life
2. Four Ways to Change Your Life
3. Understanding Silence and Solitude
4. Silence and Solitude Stealers
5. Silence and Solitude Journaling Template

If you want a quick summary of the series you can check out the last part entitled Silence and Solitude Journaling Template, where Driscoll gives a helpful list of things to journal and pray about.

If you go to this web site,  www.LetsSayThanks.com   you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in  Iraq . You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!    It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?    Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it’s a wonderful way to say thank you.    Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do.  We can never say enough thank you’s. 

Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

10 Million Words is a year-long project by Christian author/blogger Tim Challies to learn about life and culture by reading all of America’s bestselling books.

Check out his book reviews by clicking HERE.

Check it out by clicking HERE.

In his article The Economy of Anger, Mark Galli explores tome of the ways that our current economic crisis is eating away at the church and how we need to turn to the cross of Christ to restore our sanity:

But there is an unhealthy anger churning within a lot of us right now. It may be grounded in righteous anger — for there is a lot of blame to share in this sad economy — but it is not leading to anything righteous. Instead, it’s an acid eating away at the soul, a quiet rage that is morphing for some into depression and for others into the sweet promise of addiction — to food, to porn, to alcohol.

I encourage you to click Click HERE to read The Economy of Anger in its entirety.

Jonathan Dodson explores anger in everyday life and make some interesting connections between anger and unbelief in his article,  Anger: The Image of Satan:

When I grow angry I find myself losing belief. I lose faith in God’s goodness amid my circumstances. I lose belief in his promises, that "he works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28).

This unbelief arises from sinful discontent with God’s wise providence, a failure to trust in His perfect will to do me good, whether through bad weather or good, emotional intimacy or none, apology or no apology. From emotional outbursts to weather complaints, anger arises from a failure to believe the truth, and belief that God owes me something: better weather or better marital intimacy or whatever.

Belief in this false promise is unbelief in God’s promises.

Powlison points out that we express our anger towards God in three main ways. First, anger either ignores or rejects the sovereign freedom of God. Second, it’s a refusal to believe God’s promise to work for our good in all things, even drastic changes in climate. Third, it enthrones our will for comfort over God’s will, effectively assuming personal supremacy over God. It puts God in the dock.

I encourage you to click Click HERE to read Anger: The Image of Satan in its entirety.