Adding to the Stock By Mary Wilder Tileston

Adding to the Stock

By Mary Wilder Tileston

      Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.
      PSALMS 97:10

      THERE is a general stock of evil in the world to which we all contribute, or which, by God’s grace, some may diminish; a vast and fertile tract of ungodliness, of low motives, of low aims, of low desires, of low sense of duty or no sense at all. it is the creation of ages, that tradition; but each age does something for it, and each individual in each age does, if he does not advisedly refuse to do, his share in augmenting it, just as the chimney of every small house does something to thicken and darken the air of London. And this general fund or stock of evil touches us all like the common atmosphere which we breathe. And thus it is that when you or I, even in lesser matters, do or say what our conscience condemns, we do really make a contribution to that general fund of wickedness which, in other circumstances and social conditions than ours, produces flagrant crime. Especially if it should happen that we defend what we do, or make light of it, or make a joke of the misdeeds of others, we do most actively and seriously augment this common fund or tradition of wickedness.
      HENRY PARRY LIDDON

http://articles.ochristian.com/article8887.shtml

 

Why New Believers Struggle with Their Faith BY Pastor Asa Dockery

Galatians 5: 1 – 10, Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. NKJV

The Apostle Paul is addressing the new converts in the church at Galatia. He has discovered that someone has caused them to fall from grace, and, consequently, they have gone back under the law. Instead of obeying the truth by faith and abiding in the new liberty they had received in Christ, they were persuaded to add the works of the law to their faith.

As Paul began his letter to the church, he exhorted them to stand fast to the liberty by which Christ had made them free. He was calling them back to their commitment to live by faith, and calling them away from the works of the law. So why did these new converts from Judaism to Christianity decide to return to their old ways and fall from grace? It was because they had been persuaded by non-believing Jews that they must add works to their faith. However, how could these non-believing Jews cause them to stumble and fall? Not all the Jews believed that Jesus was the Son of God; therefore, they also doubted that HE was the only way, truth, and life. They didn’t believe that Jesus’ teachings were the sole way to the Father. Consequently, they swayed these new believers into going back into bondage and giving up on the liberty they had gained in Christ.

Doesn’t this illustration from scripture sound very similar to the kinds of situations that face brand new believers in our day? The voice of condemnation taunts new converts trying to get them to add something else to their faith in order to be “saved.” The sacrifice of Christ on the cross fulfilled the law and appeased the wrath of God against mankind. If we place faith in Christ as our only way to the Father and the sole way to have eternal life, then the Father will forgive us and fill us with His Spirit.  

New believers struggle with their faith because they haven’t completely broken away from the old mindset of the flesh that ruled their hearts before Christ filled it. Now that you and I are born again and have been given a new nature, we must resist the temptations and accusations of the enemy that try to pull us back into bondage. This is the place in your walk where you will have to decide to make Jesus your Lord, not just your Savior. When we commit to the teachings of Christ, every bit of the old ways and the old thinking that we once walked in as sinners will be stirred within us. Continuing in this stale mind-set can cause old desires and thoughts to begin to pull us away from the narrow path of righteousness, but if we will resist the old man and crucify him through obedient faith, the grace of God will begin to remove the condemnation.

Another reason new believers struggle in their faith arises once they begin to follow their faith with obedience to Christ. Remember, the Jews that were saved in Galatia believed in Jesus, but struggled with obeying the truth. If we obey the truth every day, it will hold us personally responsible and will empower us to live by faith, therefore, pleasing our heavenly Father. Nevertheless, once the believers in Galatia tried to obey the truth, they were met by the resistance of non-believers.   

After you have made a commitment to Christ, you must begin to live your new life according to His teachings. At this point, there will be a crossroad where you will meet a lot of resistance in your walk. Why does this happen to new converts? It is because they have decided to walk contrary to the ways of the world and their old nature; and this decision will challenge every opinion, relationship, belief, self-confidence and pride that they had before they became born again. This is why Jesus told us in Matthew that, if we desire to come after Him, we must deny self, take up our cross, and follow Him. You will have challenges that might try to convince you to give up, but hold on to the only faith that has the power to save- your faith in Christ.   

If you struggle with walking by faith and living by the Word of God, then I want to leave some verses with you that will help you endure and overcome the condemning voices of the enemy.  

Hebrews 10: 32 – 36, But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: NKJV

As you face the battles that arise when you pledge your loyalty to Christ, remember that your faith and commitment will empower you to defeat all of your adversaries along the way. Stand fast in the liberty that you have in Christ and endure your cross with the hope that God is making you free and will one-day reward you for your faithful endurance as a good soldier. God rewards those who endure their cross, and they become filled with His love and power. Hope waits until the promise comes to pass.   

Waiting on the Promise,
Pastor Asa Dockery

http://pastorasadockery.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-new-believers-struggle-with-their.html

Don’t Assume BY Kevin DeYoung

It may be the best known Bible verse in our culture: “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt. 7:1).

As one of our society’s most popular verses, it is also one of the most misunderstood. Too many people, non-Christian and Christian, take Jesus’ words to be a blanket rejection of all moral evaluation. But given that Jesus alludes to his opponents as dogs and pigs five verses later, it’s safe to think Jesus wasn’t condemning every kind of judgment. We see from the rest of the Gospel that Matthew 7:1 is not inconsistent with strong criticisms, negative statements, church discipline, and warnings about hell. Judgmentalism is not the same as making ethical and doctrinal demands or believing others to be wrong.

And yet, after all the necessary qualifications, we must not mute this important command. As sinners, we are apt to assume the worst about people. We are eager to find favorable comparisons that make ourselves look good at the expense of others. We are quick to size people up and think we have them figured them out. But I have learned over the years–both as the giver and receiver of judgmental assumptions–that it’s best not to assume.

Don’t assume you know all the facts after hearing one side of the story.

Don’t assume the person is guilty just because strong charges are made against him.

Don’t assume you understand a blogger’s heart after reading one post.

Don’t assume that famous author, preacher, athlete, politician, or local celebrity won’t read what you write and don’t assume they won’t care what you say.

Don’t assume the divorced person is to blame for the divorce.

Don’t assume the single mom isn’t following Jesus.

Don’t assume the guy from the Mission is less of a man or less of a Christian.

Don’t assume the pastor looking for work is a bad pastor.

Don’t assume the church that struggles or fails is a bad church.

Don’t assume you’d be a better mom.

Don’t assume bad kids are the result of bad parents.

Don’t assume your parents are clueless.

Don’t assume everyone should drop everything to attend to your needs, and don’t assume no one will.

Don’t assume the rich are ungenerous.

Don’t assume the poor are lazy.

Don’t assume you know what they are all like after meeting one or two of their kind.

Don’t assume you should read between the lines.

Don’t assume you have interpreted the emotions of the email correctly.

Don’t assume everyone has forgotten about you.

Don’t assume they meant to leave you off the list.

Don’t assume everyone else has a charmed life.

Don’t assume a bad day makes her a bad friend.

Don’t assume the repentance isn’t genuine.

Don’t assume the forgiveness isn’t sincere.

Don’t assume God can’t change you.

Don’t assume God can’t love you.

Don’t assume God can’t love them.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/02/28/dont-assume/

Forty-Year-Old Light on How to Translate “Son of God” for Muslims

Forty-Year-Old Light on How to Translate “Son of God” for Muslims.

When will America wise up? (OneNewsNow.com)

When will America wise up? (OneNewsNow.com).

The Daily Spurgeon: Do you know God?

The Daily Spurgeon: Do you know God?.

Sharia and the Constitution

Muslims are organizing discussions across America to assert that sharia is compatible with the U.S. Constitution. Since these presentations rarely involve a real debate there is no opportunity for thoughtful challenge to the questionable premise. In fact, if these “town halls” are conducted as the recent session in Garden Grove, CA, they will be characterized by partisan rants, baseless platitudes on harmonizing ambiguous values, and a total lock-down on dissent.

It is time to find out if there is a Muslim bluff to call on sharia and America foundational values. We can, and must, demand an answer to this urgent question: If American Muslims follow a unique interpretation of sharia — as is implicit in their claim to embrace American ideals — will they make an unequivocal statement condemning the sharia-justified violence in Islamic countries? In the face of rising violence and defiant death sentences, will American Muslims repudiate the oppression, persecution, and the killing committed in the name of sharia?

Right now, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is reported to be awaiting imminent execution under Iran’s sharia blasphemy laws; web developer Saeed Malekpour faces hanging in Iran on a trumped up corruption charge; Iranian bloggers and freedom activists are subjects of a brutal crackdown; Saudi Hamza Kashgari’s tweets are punishable by death according to Saudi sharia blasphemy laws; and, Christophobia currently rages through Nigeria, Sudan, Iraq, and Egypt in the form of massacres of Christians, maiming, looting, and burning of churches. The silence of American Muslim leadership in the face of this gathering cyclone of human rights abuses is deafening. Their claims that sharia is supportive of fundamental human rights — as long as they are not willing to repudiate this barbarism — is offensive. Of course, if there is a different interpretation of sharia applied in America, Muslim leadership bears the burden of making this emphatic distinction.

Thus far, all that American Muslims have done is produce aspirational statements like this from Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America and anchor speaker at the Orange County “Sharia and the Constitution” town hall. As I asked him when Muslims would assume a leadership role in repudiating human rights abuses in the name of sharia, he gave rationalizations on how everyone suffered during the revolution in Egypt. He said that country and customs must be taken into consideration when assessing the application of sharia as he also offered that not all governments or actors in Muslim countries follow sharia. Then he tried a lopsided moral equivalence argument and countered that Americans do not speak out against the killing of innocent Muslims by predator drones. Finally, he referred me to the statements or fatwas issued on the violence in Afghanistan and “religious extremism” in general — but this was the same fluff that characterized his prepared statement: “we should all work for peace and respect for human life.”

Political leaders are complicit in sheltering Muslims from accountability. The Orange County discussion on sharia was unilaterally declared off limits to videotaping when Rep. Loretta Sanchez told an attendee that, if he was not “official,” he must “follow the rules” and stop taping her remarks. (A key event official has since told me that there was no rule prohibiting videotaping.) One has to wonder what is her understanding of the Constitution and how she defines her responsibility to her constituents? Informed reading of constitutional rights to assemble and to speak says that a public official has no expectation of privacy (the key element needed for making a legal argument against recording) when speaking in her official capacity — moreover at a public town hall meeting.

Rep. Sanchez may not want a youtube video in circulation showing the three Democrat congresswomen calling the legitimate congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization “witch hunts” and “a threat to national security” and “targeting Muslims.” Rep. Sanchez leveled the charge that the King hearings had one purpose and that was “to humiliate and offend the integrity of the American Muslim community.”

Symbolically, this OC panel was scheduled on the day marking the Japanese internment and the historic backdrop provided convenient parallels for official comment on the re-settlement of Japanese during WWII and ostensible mistreatment of American Muslims today. Congresswoman Judy Chu declared that Japanese Americans had been taken to “concentration camps.” Incidentally, there was no mention of the reparations paid the Japanese as signed by President Ronald Reagan. Neither was the overweening due process afforded unlawful combatant detainees noted. Nor were examples provided for the claims of mistreatment of American Muslims.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Baca said that America faced a “dilemma about what American law and the Constitution are all about.” LAPD Chief of Counter-Terrorism Downing spoke of a hate campaign “spread across America” to create untruths about sharia and he warned of the threat from “the other side of extremism” coming from those that “perpetuate hate against a small number of people.” These public servants seem to have lost sight of what is their chief duty. As Scott Swett expertly demonstrates here, America is entirely likely to suffer another Nidal Hassan massacre because the institutional lesson learned — as illustrated by these public officials — is that preserving diversity trumps safety.

These congressional members should also be held accountable for participating in a so-called panel on the American Constitution where they did not even attempt to vindicate American principles of self-determination, equal rights, free speech, and freedom of conscience. As irresponsible as the politician’s partisan tirades were, their willing cooperation in this farcical discussion was worse. These representatives failed to utter even one token challenge to the claim that sharia is perfectly consistent with American constitutional standards. There was no examination of this proposition in the course of the entire so-called town hall.

If our leaders will not rise to this occasion, American citizens must do so. There will never be a better time to ask America’s Muslims to take a stand for the American values of individual rights and freedom of conscience. If they do not declare for the cause of liberty now, what are we to believe about the future compatability of American constitutionalism and Muslim sharia traditions?

 

 

 

Tags: Constitution , Shariah Law , Radical Islam

 

Karen Lugo

Karen Lugo is the Founder of the Libertas-West Project and a co-director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence.

http://townhall.com/columnists/karenlugo/2012/02/27/sharia_and_the_constitution/page/full/

Answering Planned Parenthood’s Grand Deception

Although popular opinion has been turning steadily against Planned Parenthood and their allies over the course of the last 20 years, the culture of death continues to seek and proselytize new adherents in pervasive and destructive ways. With their success, human life has been cheapened to such a degree that news stories about sex and death which our grandparents would have found heinous, don’t even make us blink today.

For example, in April 2005, a 19-year-old teenager in Canada became pregnant. She hid the pregnancy from her parents and secretly gave birth to a son in her parents’ basement. Immediately thereafter, she strangled the child to death so he wouldn’t make any noise. She then went outside and threw the body over the fence, where it was later discovered.

In that same year, a 16-year-old Michigan boy repeatedly hit his pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend in the stomach with a small baseball bat in hopes of killing their baby: he succeeded. Eric Smith, the county prosecutor in the county where the crime happened, said, “The length at which these two 16-year-olds went to abort this unborn child is disturbing.”

Of course, what’s profoundly troubling is that representatives of the culture of death were more disturbed the abortion was done externally with a bat instead of internally via Planned Parenthood scalpels and vacuum devices. As Lori Lamerand, president and CEO at Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan put it, “It’s always tragic when people resort to such drastic measures, when there are appropriate, safe medical measures available.”

The actions of the Canadian mother and the Michigan couple demand more than sorrow over how they killed their children. They demand sorrow over the fact that death was even viewed as solution by these young parents to begin with. Yet Planned Parenthood and its fellow travelers encourage our youth to view fetal death as a good “option” via web-based propaganda outlets like Teenwire.org and the texting campaign Planned Parenthood has undertaken to reach out to children as young as 14. Or, as one Planned Parenthood affiliate did, launching a “Tell a Friend” marketing program that offered free movie tickets and a chance to win an I-Pod as a reward for teenagers referring friends to Planned Parenthood for their “services.”

At Planned Parenthood’s Teenwire.org, the assumption is that young mothers will choose abortion. So, after a little lip service to those who “think [they] might continue the pregnancy,” the tone on the site quickly switches to, “If you’re considering abortion, you should make a decision as soon as possible. Abortion is very safe, but the risks increase the longer a pregnancy goes on.”

In that one sentence, vulnerable, young women, desperate for truth and open to the power of suggestion, are essentially told carrying a live child is risky but “abortion is safe” without any caveats or stipulations. No mention is made of the ties between abortion and breast cancer or abortion and depression, nor is mention made of the lifelong torment of post-abortive women after it’s way too late.

There is no excuse for taking a human life in cold blood, but there must be sympathy for teenagers in crisis who find themselves thoroughly seduced by the Planned Parenthood mantra—the mantra that the only value humans possess is the value other humans place on them, not the intrinsic value they have as a human person.

We must remain relentless in our fight against Planned Parenthood and its grand deception on the one hand, yet compassionate in outreach to those whom Planned Parenthood has misled on the other. The lives that need to be protected from these abortion profiteers are both inside and outside the womb.

 

 

 

Tags: A Culture of Life , Abortion , Planned Parenthood , Abortion Business

 

Alan Sears

 

Alan Sears, a former federal prosecutor in the Reagan Administration, is president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance employing a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

http://townhall.com/columnists/alansears/2012/02/27/answering_planned_parenthoods_grand_deception/page/full/

 

Praying to Increase Your Faith

Praying to Increase Your Faith.

A Celebration of Heritage

“All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.” — Nehemiah 8:1

Just a few weeks ago, Irish Americans (and even some who are not) celebrated their unique heritage and culture during St. Patrick’s Day. Parades were held; people donned green; and in my former hometown of Chicago, they even dyed the Chicago River green.

While these celebrations are mostly light-hearted and joyous occasions, they do serve a purpose in helping people remember their ancestral roots. They keep alive the rich traditions and strengthen the tie to their homeland.

For centuries, the Ethiopian Jews have celebrated their Jewish faith and roots in a unique holiday, known as Sigd, which means “to prostrate oneself.” The celebration is believed to have started in the 15^th century when the priests gathered the Beta Israel, “House of Israel” as they call themselves, to strengthen their faith in the face of great persecution.

The priests were inspired by the description in the book of Nehemiah of how the Jews who had returned from Babylon after seventy years of exile dedicated themselves to follow God:  “All the people came together as one in the square of the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel” (Nehemiah 8:1).

Prior to the mass aliyah (immigration to Israel) of Beta Israel, which began in the 1980s, generations of Ethiopian Jews would walk for days to a mountaintop where thousands would join in prayer and the reading of the Torah. Following the afternoon prayers and blowing of the shofar, the entire community would descend from the mountain for a joyous feast.

In this way, the Ethiopian Jews celebrated and remembered their connection to Jerusalem and renewed their commitment to Jewish unity.

Sigd is now an official holiday, celebrated by all Jews in Israel, and Ethiopian Jews who have made aliyah to Israel gather at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to commemorate this day. It is truly an inspiring and spiritual experience.

Although the holiday of Sigd is one that Ethiopian Jews have exclusively celebrated for centuries, it is a holiday that many Jews can relate to. Jews in Israel have gathered from Europe, America, Russia, Iran, and countless other countries of their birth. Uniting in Jerusalem is the answer to our prayers, because all of us were once strangers in a strange land.

The holiday of Sigd commemorates the struggles all who resettle went through to arrive in the Holy Land. It also reminds us about the love that God will always have for His children, wherever they may be found.

http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/a-celebration-of-heritage-2