The United States is currently seeking allies in the fight against ISIS. Nations prize strong allies. Israel, Canada, Turkey, Great Britain, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Australia, Poland, both Germany and Japan (once fierce enemies of ours) have all been called strong allies of the United States.
But the strength and allegiance of allies can vary over time. Leadership changes. Economies shift. Resources dwindle. Interests alter. Politics have been known to make strange bedfellows.
With God there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1: 17). If He is for us, who can be against us (Rom. 8: 31)? If He is for us, we need no other allies, no matter how many our foes. But God’s allegiance and support cannot be turned on like a faucet. We must follow His laws, even when crises do not loom. We must trust in Him, even when it appears our cause is lost.
The prophet, Elisha, knew this. Surrounded by the horses and chariots of a great Syrian army, Elisha calmed his servant with the words below. Elisha then prayed…not for assistance, but that his servant’s eyes be opened to the supernatural forces already allied with them.
“…‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them’ ” (2 Kings 6: 16).
Lord God, we come once again to Your throne.
Still our hearts, Lord. When the weight of the world is too much upon us, quiet our minds, and help us remember that You are God. Before You, the mountains tremble. The nations rise and fall as You ordain.
Open our eyes when we feel besieged, that we like Elisha may know Your constant presence, and draw upon Your strength. Place Your shield about us, Lord. Your protection far exceeds what any man may do to us.
Amen
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The Huffington Post reports that the persecution of Christians by Muslims in the Middle East will be resolved only by genocide, particularly in Iraq and Syria [1].
Predating Islam [2], Christianity was initially granted “dhimma” status by Islam, i.e. standing as a minority religion with the right to exist, though with restrictions. Christians and Jews have traditionally been considered “people of the book” by Muslims who believe the Bible was corrupted with time and, for that reason, superseded by the Quran.
Persecution is not a new experience for Middle Eastern Christians. Well over a million Armenian Christians were victims of ethnic cleansing by the Turkish Ottoman Empire during World War I. By some estimates, the two thousand year old Christian community in Iraq has been reduced from 1.5 million to 200,000 since America’s first military intervention there in 2003.
ISIS views Christians as primary targets of its hatred and rage. At first, ISIS was satisfied allowing Christians to flee their homes, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Conversion at the point of a sword followed. Even that is not likely to satisfy ISIS bloodlust for much longer, not if the videos posted of Shiite beheadings are any indication.
Our persecuted brothers and sisters cry out to us. Not seeking vengeance. Asking rather that we speak for them…while we yet can.
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also” (Heb. 13: 3).
Lord Jesus, ours is a lost world. Those of us who know You are few; those who can worship and remain faithful to You without fear of reprisal, fewer still.
Help us keep our persecuted brothers and sisters constantly in mind, Lord. Remember them when we do not. Protect them from harm, comfort them in grief, carry them home to glory at the appointed time, in Your loving arms.
Amen
—
[1] The Huffington Post, “Christian Persecution: The Final Solution of the Christian Arab Question in the Middle East” by Sheldon Filger, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/christian-persecution/.
[2] Today’s Mosul is the ancient city of Nineveh to which the prophet, Jonah, was sent. ISIS in July 2014 destroyed the mosque built over a site long considered to be Jonah’s tomb.
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Junior Peregory bringing out food at soup kitchen, Our Community Place, Photo by Artaxerxes (CC A-SA, 3.0 Unported)
We may be embarrassed to admit it, but – deep down – alot of us want to do great things for the Lord. Grand things. Preferably with background music.
We critique everything from Noah’s carpentry to Joseph’s wardrobe, from Moses’ negotiation skills to David’s aim. Surely, we would have suspected Delilah’s motives. Unlike Jonah, we would have gone straight to Ninevah, bypassing the whale altogether.
Our desire to excel stems less from devotion, of course, than from a misplaced sense of pride in our own abilities. Yet God asks us for love and obedience in the small things.
Dealing charitably with cold sales calls, overseas tech support, missed deadlines, store clerks unable to make change, and drivers unable to see over their steering wheel may not seem “heroic” on your part.
But to the engineer now employed making those cold calls; the computer technician covering the midnight shift; the secretary distracted by worry over a sick child; the single mother at the register; and the war veteran who fought his way up Omaha Beach your civility is confirmation of their dignity.
Take the time to look. In each face you will see Christ.
“…And what does your Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6: 8).
Lord God, we are so easily discouraged when our grandiose plans go awry or worldly approval is not forthcoming. Yet You do not seek monuments from us. You simply ask that we love You with our whole heart and whole mind.
Help us remember that You value small, daily acts of kindness and service to others more than lavish public sacrifice. May we build our monuments of these…to Your everlasting glory.
Amen
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There is an artists’ cooperative known as Mouth and Foot Painting Artists http://www.mfpausa.com which markets the paintings of disabled artists [1]. Unable to use their hands, member artists paint with a brush held either in their mouths or with their feet.
Complaints, Complaints
How often we complain about one or another routine task. Whose turn is it to do the dishes tonight? Why hasn’t the garbage been taken out yet? That bag is overflowing! If those dust bunnies get any bigger, they’ll have to start paying rent. Where is the vacuum anyway? Do I have to do EVERYTHING around here?
Never does it cross our minds that simple chores are impossible for some people.
Nerves and Muscles
It requires 34 muscles and 48 nerves to operate the human hand — a tool with which we can perform brain surgery, play Chopin, use a jackhammer, fly a kite, or brush a child’s hair. The foot and ankle together have over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. With these, we can run a marathon, dance on air at a prom, or tip toe into the room of a sleeping infant.
But all elements — bone, nerve, muscle, and sinew –must function correctly or we face major problems. Read more…
Child Labor in Textile Mills, Lawrence, Mass., Site of IWW-led Immigrant Strike (1912), (PD)
“…[A] young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.”
– Jonathan Swift, from A Modest Proposal
Satirist, Jonathan Swift was talking about the Irish poor when he advocated infanticide and cannibalism as means for society to deal with the problem of hunger. Swift was, of course, speaking facetiously.
Industrial Revolution
At the time, it was widely believed that people were the riches of a nation. This belief was held concurrently with its virtual opposite, that workers should be paid as little as possible to induce productivity from them. Thus, the egregious practices of the Industrial Revolution.
Post –Industrial Age
We realize today that population size alone does not equate with prosperity. A population must be appropriately educated, and afforded a fair opportunity to offer its ideas, talents, skills, and labor in the marketplace, in exchange for a fair price.
Despite that knowledge, our Post-Industrial Age seems to be re-adopting the discredited canon of the past. Social Darwinism – survival of the fittest, interpreted as survival of the wealthiest – has regained popularity. A substantial number believe that a living wage (the minimum earnings required to fill basic needs) would encourage sloth. Not surprisingly, the vast majority favoring this viewpoint have never had to struggle to make a living.
Refugee Crisis
This brings us to the 52,000 children – most unaccompanied – who have besieged America’s southern border since October 2013, children fleeing violence in their countries of origin (primarily Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), in hopes of obtaining safe haven in the United States [1].
There is no doubt that the dangers these children have experienced – gang violence, government corruption, and political upheaval – are real. Honduras, for one, has the highest murder rate in the world. Misinformation was another factor drawing them here.
As of this writing, Mexican children are being summarily turned over to Mexican authorities, and sent home.
Children from Central America, however, are subject to the 2008 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act [2] [3]. The Act, which put in place new protections for children, was intended to stop human trafficking. These protections have resulted in processing delays, further contributing to the backlog. Children may wait as long as 3 years for a court hearing, spending the interim in foster care or with relatives already living in the United States.
Political Arithmetic
Both the Republican and Democratic Parties have seized on this situation to call for immigration reform – something for which neither party has the votes (or backbone). This is mere posturing, meant as a display of moral superiority without any real expenditure of effort.
Surely, we could establish foreign worker permits ensuring the payment of taxes on earnings, while including a pathway toward citizenship for those desiring to pursue it. So why have we not done this?
A Great Challenge
Great nations face great challenges. As long as America remains a nation of promise, it will draw immigrants, legal and illegal.
The fact we have chosen to deport illegals, but not penalize the employers providing them jobs at below minimum wage, ensures a continuous flow of the desperately poor. From the perspective of such employers (and those lobbying Congress on their behalf), this is a desired outcome…just as slavery was viewed as essential to the accumulation of wealth, in earlier centuries. Read more…
“The Miraculous Draught of Fish” by Raphael, Photo by M. Chohan (PD-ArtlAge-Over 100 years)
Chapter 21 of the Book of John describes the Apostles’ fruitless efforts to catch fish until the Lord intervened, after which their net overflowed.
Ministers generally focus on that part of the chapter – rightly so, since we are helpless without the Lord’s intervention. However, the chapter is entitled “Breakfast by the Sea” because the Lord not only observed the night’s toil but, Himself, made breakfast on the morn.
The Lord was so concerned for the welfare of His followers as to lay a fire and bake bread for them, with His own hands. Even in His resurrected form, even while teaching a spiritual lesson, He anticipated and responded to their ordinary, physical needs.
As He does with us.
“Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread…Jesus said to them, ‘Come and eat breakfast’ ” (John 21: 9, 12).
Lord Jesus, Your loving care surrounds us. You sustain us through darkest nights, when our best efforts have proven futile. You know and meet our needs – great and small – before we recognize them, ourselves.
Nourish us in body and spirit, Lord, that we may be the fishers of men You desire.
Bring us safely to shore when our work is done, for we know You await us there.
Amen
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Screenshot from “Bende Sira” (a 2007 short film about a group of impoverished Turkish boys), Setphoto by Firat Demir (CC S-SA 3.0 Unported)
“Arise, cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street” (Lamentations 2: 19).
In cities across this country, there are children living in abject conditions. Each day that passes, another day of their lives is lost to poverty. Each day, another generation is being lost.
Not Just Numbers
According to the US Census Bureau, 46.5 million people in America lived below the poverty level as of 2012. More than half are children. The figures do not take into account children in foster care, prisoners, the elderly in nursing homes, those living in military housing, or the homeless not in shelters.
I could cite other statistics. According to a 27-city study by the US Conference of Mayors, requests for emergency food assistance had increased by an average of 14% during 2004, in other words, even before the real estate crisis and ensuing recession. About 20% of those requests went unmet.
The situation has only grown worse in the 10 years since. These are not just numbers. They represent real, live men, women, and children. Read more…
Rain on Grass, Photo by Adrian Benko (2005) (CC A-SA, 3.0 Unported)
It seems that God presented the newly made universe to His angels for comment. The angels remarked favorably on one aspect of creation after another. Finally, however, an angel pointed out that the universe lacked the sound of praise.
So God created music. This is the reason the wind sings in the trees, the rain falls softly on the grass, and the seas roar.
At least one study has shown that there are, in fact, enormously beautiful and complex rhythms contained in the sounds of the natural world. Not only do mourning doves cry in a certain range and crickets chirp at a designated frequency, there is a vast and harmonious chorus at play – heard and unheard by human ears.
Combined, these rhythms are not cacophonous…merely a symphony beyond our ordinary comprehension.
“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being” (Psalm 104: 33).
Lord God, we join with creation to sing Your praises! You are the great King over all the earth, and reign on high. You have chosen for us a rich inheritance, Lord. You have made us Your sons and daughters. We give You thanks!
Amen
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“Freedom of Speech” by Norman Rockwell (1941-1945), National Archives at College Park (NAID 513536) (PD)
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
– John Milton, Areopagitica
Tolerance once meant we lived side by side with one another, without resorting to violence. Despite our differences, not because of our uniformity.
Tolerance once meant we were permitted to defend our opinions (sometimes actually arguing with and convincing opponents of our viewpoint, other times swayed by their arguments). That was considered free speech. Now it is considered in bad taste.
All viewpoints are today taken to be equally valid. All should be tolerated without comment, lest the mere opposition to them be classified as intolerance or, worse yet, terrorism.
Where differences do exist, we choose to ignore their merits, falling back on the mild observation that “each man to his own”. This may suffice where the differences are insignificant. Vanilla v. strawberry ice cream. Not all opinions are, however, so harmless.
- Hitler considered extermination of the Jews a worthwhile goal.
- The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) views sex between adults and minors as acceptable, even beneficial, to the children being violated.
- The Southern Poverty Law Center currently lists 993 hate groups operating in the United States. These include Neo-Nazis, skinheads, and black separatists like the Nation of Islam, all of whom advocate racism.
Tolerance on these distorted terms is, in fact, extremely dangerous. It allows evil to take root and thrive unimpeded. It undermines rather than extending freedom of speech, leaving violence as the only recourse when differing opinions morph into actions impacting the rights of others. Hitler had concentration camps – and ovens – constructed. NAMBLA lobbies to eliminate “age of consent” laws, and decriminalize pedophilia. Read more…
Brazil and Mexico Match, FIFA World Cup 6/17/2014, Photo by copa1214.gov.br (CC Attrib 3.0 Unported)
The World Cup has been the focus of much attention, with the courage and perseverance of individual players on display. But these qualities are not just found on the playing field.
Five thousand miles from here Sixcel (not his real name), a Turkish Christian, has been arrested seven times for his faith. A former Muslim, Sixcel more than once attempted suicide before his conversion to Christianity.
In an interview with Voice of the Martyrs, Sixcel cheerfully commented on his arrests:
“If you ask me, ‘Where is a good place to share the Gospel?’ I can say to you, at the police station. Because the police’s job, his work, is to ask. And I’m a Christian: My job is to talk about Jesus Christ! It is a good meeting place to talk. At the time [of one arrest], I shared the Gospel with 48 policemen.”
Do we ask enough of ourselves? Or do we throw in the towel when things grow difficult? Sixcel got it right. Our “job” is to talk about Jesus Christ, and live what He taught – most especially in the face of adversity. That should be our joy, as well. The Lord is after all our prize, greater than any title or award to be won in an earthly competition.
“…[F]orgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3: 13-14).
Lord Jesus, You are our strength and our goal. Your grace saves and sustains us.
Help us focus not on our past failures, but on You. However daunting the obstacles, however long the struggle, revive us when we grow weary that we, too, may press on toward the prize.
We pray at this time for Sixcel, and all Christians like him, who are being persecuted around the world. Protect them, Lord. Give them courage for their ordeal. Let them know they are not forgotten.
We ask this in Your holy Name.
Amen
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A Lawyer's Prayers 