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Current Faith
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For quite some time already, there are several incidences that show the proceedings of the end times, as predicted by Jesus Himself and other scriptures in the Bible: persecution, natural catastrophes, false teachings, even false Christs. And of course, also the increased work of the Holy Spirit.Persecution begins at such very points, where intolerance blinds people. The so-called "political correctness" is the biggest intolerance I've ever come across! Christian persecution is building up more and more in all over the world. The so-called "tolerance" here in Europe, especially in Germany, has come to that extreme that our own identity is lost. Believing in Jesus is seen as fanatism which has to be kept low. In the USA, this "tolerance" has come even farther, where public places displaying Christian smybols and even public prayers are facing lawsuits.
And people look away, just as they do in countries like North Korea, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and others where Christians are imprisoned, tortured and sometimes kept even worse than murderers. With statements like these here, I don't want to open hard discussions (this is already done at other places with no results) - I just want to draw everybody's attention to reality. The correct answer to this is NOT BY FIGHTING against all that, but BY TURNING BACK TO GOD and accepting His solution for our salvation in JESUS CHRIST. In Matthews 24, Jesus is predicting incidents like these, also natural catastrophes that are becoming worse than ever before (take the tsunami of December 2004, earthquakes, floodings, hurricanes), wars, etc.
Notice: this is NOT God's "punishment". No matter whether man-made or natural catastrophes, it all derives from a fallen nature that needs redemption. But God can allow and use those things as to His will. As we say here in Germany, God can write very evenly on the most crooked ways. What we see are those things that He allowed to pass. But we don't see what He has prevented us from! This is why God made us know that those who don't have the Holy Spirit don't understand His message (1 Corinthians 2). And like Jesus said, we are to be alert. We can rely on the fact that He has overcome this world (John 16) and that we can live in His victory (1 Corinthians 15)!
We are still in times of grace, but I am pretty sure that time is short. We have to get out of our comfort zones and publically proclaim WHO is Lord of Lords! We cannot avoid things from happening, but we can tell people of how they can avoid getting lost! As our Creator, God is THE one who can oversee things much better than anyone of us ever could. Therefore, it is my concern that people learn to trust Him again, Him who loves us so much that He gave the ultimate sacrifice so we might get the possibility to relate to Him again! But He does not force anybody into anything, this is why everybody must decide for him or herself.
In this link here, I will upload articles with contents like this whenver I find them, from different sources. And also articles on what God is doing these days, because the increase of the work of the Holy Spirit is also a sign of the last days!
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German Evangelicals Outraged at TV Program
Political Magazine Compares Missionaries With Jihadists
By Wolfgang Polzer, Special to ASSIST News Service, August 5, 2009
MAINZ (ANS) -- A TV program on one of Germany's major channels angers evangelicals. In its political magazine "Frontal 21" the public sector broadcaster ZDF aired a report entitled "Dying For Jesus - Mission Adventure", August 4.
Missionary minded evangelicals were compared with Jihadists. The program ended with the comment: "Being prepared to die for God: That sounds familiar - for Islamic fundamentalists. But it seems also to be true for radical Christians".
The TV report was produced in the light of the recent murder of two German evangelical bible school students and a Korean teacher in Yemen. The authors of the report - Arndt Ginzel, Martin Kraushaar and Ulrich Stoll - accuse evangelical mission agencies of sending out young Christians on mission adventures in unreached regions, where they are bound to risk their lives.
The authors are critical of a "long, unholy tradition" of martyrdom. Even today, missionaries buried in a cemetery in Korntal near Stuttgart served as good examples for evangelicals.
Korntal is home to the Association of Evangelical Missions (AEM), the biggest missionary umbrella organization in Germany. The 92 member agencies have 3,900 missionaries around the globe.
In a letter to the ZDF, AEM's ch airman Detlef Bloecher protests against the "simplistic rhetoric" of the TV report. He accuses the authors of applying "double standards" and showing a "discriminating attitude" towards evangelicals.
It is absolutely commendable, emphasized Bloecher, that young Christians are dedicating their lives to helping those in need. This had nothing to do with a craving for death or suicide attacks, as the TV authors had insinuated.
They failed to draw the line between the biblical message of love and reconciliation on the one hand and the unrestrained hatred of Islamist extremists on the other. Bloecher regards an attitude as two-faced, which detests dedicated Christians, but admires journalists and environmental activists, who risk their lives for their cause.
Wolfgang Baake, director of the Christian Media Association KEP (Conference of Evangelical Publicists), filed a program complaint with ZDF. According to Baake, the TV program has offended Christian martyrs past and present.
The TV journalists had also posed as students at a missionary seminary in Korntal, filmed with hidden camera and trespassed the grounds of the institution. It is not true that martyrs are buried in Korntal, writes Baake.
The director of the evangelical media watchdog accuses the authors of "determined manipulation" and demands a correction in the weekly TV magazine.
Christians asked to pray
for Muslims during Ramadan
By Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service, July 23, 2009
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (ANS) -- Many of you know Muslims at work, or in your neighborhood or community. Islam is certainly very much in the news these days.
Muslims around the world are gearing up for Ramadan. It's Islam's holiest month, and it begins August 22.
What is Ramadan?
The media release explains: "During Ramadan, every part of the body must be restrained. The tongue must be restrained from backbiting and gossip. The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at unlawful things. The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places. In this way, every part of the body observes the fast."
Cover of 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus booklet
According to a media release, Ramadan is a time where Muslims re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance. They try to make peace with those who have wronged them, strengthen ties with family and friends, do away with bad habits -- essentially to clean up their lives, thoughts, and feelings.
The Arabic word for "fasting" (sawm) literally means "to refrain" -- and it means not only refraining from food and drink, but also from evil actions, thoughts, and words.
For the 18th year in a row, Paul Filidis of www.WorldChristian.com is asking Christians to pray that many Muslims will come to know Christ during their holiest time of the year.
Filidis is the North American coordinator of the 30-Days Muslim Prayer Focus, a worldwide event.
"The prayer focus always coincides with Ramadan, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. And Ramadan is the annual month of fasting where they fast from sun-up to sun-down. This year, the 30 days of Ramadan occurs actually from August 22 to September 20."
The 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus is a worldwide prayer effort that is designed to raise awareness, educate, and mobilize new support and workers to reach out to people groups who practice Islam.
As hard-line Islam grows in the Middle East and Asia, one missiologist has observed that many nominal Muslims are becoming disenfranchised and are beginning to look elsewhere for answers. Young people in countries like Iran are finding Christ on Christian satellite television and the Internet.
Filidis says many Christians want to participate in Muslim evangelism, but don't know where to begin.
www.WorldChristian.com has produced the 56-page 30-Days Muslim Prayer Guide to help you on your prayer journey. Each day focuses on a specific area of the Islamic world. As you pray, you'll gain knowledge and understanding of the Islamic culture and a heart for the people that transcends the headlines.
Each day takes you around the world so you can pray more effectively for the Islamic world.
Filidis says this is doing more than providing education.
He says it's "expanding our ability to love. As you pray for people, you get God's perspective, God's heart, and it's hard not to have a certain love for them that transcends the headlines."
To get your copy of the 30-Days Muslim Prayer Guide go to www.30daysprayer.com/muslim
life. Of course, it is all the more sad for those who stay behind, having lost a loved one.
The most touching moment: Michael
Jackson's daughter, little Paris,
breaks out into tears on stage, when talking about her love for her daddy
(photo: Kevork Djansezian/AP).
I admit to it - like millions of others around the world also I was sitting before the screen yesterday watching the memorial service for Michael Jackson. After all, I grew up with him and his music and in the beginning also with that of his brothers, the "Jackson Five". My childhood and youth passed me by, brought back memories and like this, I have shed some tears too. I think this is not a shame, not even as a Christian, as long as we are aware of the true priorities at such a memorial service. A final goodbye is always a very sad thing. Yet there is no problem in submitting to mourning, even if it's about a "pop icon". Like I said it depends on the priorities. I was very touched by those old recordings, especially those where Michael was still a little boy - I really did love him back then! I always felt it kind of "exhilarating" that we were both born in the same year! And no matter what one could say negatively about him in the past years (whereas we cannot at all be sure about what the truth is or what served only the fact that certain people could get an advantage out of his fame and even his finances) - it is always very sad when someone passes, who had somehow engraved one's own
But at the same time, we must not forget the sad life which Michael Jackson actually lived - not even his unique career could change this. He had been robbed of his childhood and had lived only an artificial life. At the expense of a healthy upgrowing and his soul, he was systematically built up to what he became later. Those umpteen plastic surgeries he went through are just the tip of the iceberg that can tell you a thing or two about it. It isn't long ago that I saw one of his latest photos which absolutely shocked me, where he looked so ill that his face seemed to me like a skull covered with a skin... It must have been something like a presentiment when I was thinking "he won't be surviving this tour..." (I mean this 50-city-tour that was planned). Now he couldn't even begin with it...
So I won't go on talking about his life - you can read more than enough on this in the media these days. And also all of this doesn't have a lot to do with our website here. Or does it perhaps???
For some 40 years, Michael Jackson determinded the musical life worldwide, he initiated many innovations in the showbiz. Yet with the time, he was being put on such a high pedestal that he became unreachable; many people downright adored him, which is dangerous. The effects of that came to my mind, especially in view of this memorial service yesterday.
It shocked me to hear Andrae Crouch and his choir sing as a starter his wonderful gospel song "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King".... Andrae Crouch, his choir and many of us know who this "King" is: Jesus, the King of Kings! It is Him who we as believing Christians are waiting for and it will be Him who we're going to see very soon! Even those who are not waiting for Him, will be seeing Him...
But a majority of those who have followed this memorial service, no matter whether personally at the Staples Center or internationally at the screens, relate the word "King" to the "King of Pop", meaning to Michael Jackson... Who ever does not know this gospel song (and we must assume that nowadays more and more people don't know anymore what these beautiful songs are about), will think that this song was sung to honor the deceased artist and that it is him who is meant with this "king". Here it is becoming very dangerous to my understanding. I cannot comprehend how Andrae Crouch as a born again Christian let himself in for this...
In part I watched this service on the internet at CNN where a live chat was integrated and there, I really did see the entry written by someone: "Michael is my Jesus"... This really shocked me! How dangerous if a person is being put at the same level as God... Apart from how destructive this can become for the person him/herself, but also for the fans it can be destructive, who are thus being led astray. The person who has written this ignorant comment, knows about Jesus, knows about His importance, otherwise he/she would not have made this comparison. But how much does he/she really know about Jesus? Does he/she know that it is Jesus alone who is our real King since He is the only one who can forgive and redeem us? No-one is like Jesus, not even a Michael Jackson...
We have heard that Michael Jackson allegedly had converted to Islam not too long ago. I can't say as to what extent this is true, but it clearly tells of his desperate search. I think nobody could tell with certainty, apart from those surrounding him personnally. I guess it wouldn't be unthinkable. Yet we also heard about several believing Christians in the showbiz, who had talked with him about faith. They prayed for him, maybe even with him. It is said that Michael had returned to Christianity recently. And then we saw a memorial service completely built upon Christian basics, where a firm stand was taken and it was prayed in the name of Jesus (something which is momentarily quite precarious in the US and in many cases, is even being prohibited juridically).
We don't know if Michael Jackson has returned to the God of the Bible with a true heart or not, ultimately turning his life over to Jesus. Only God Himself can tell. So we should not go on with speculations, no matter how "alliviating" this might sound to some who have become aware of the Christian aspect of this memorial service. To be honest, I did not expect this.
Jesus was very clear when He said, "No-one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6b). As well as clearly one can read it in Romans 10:9-10: "If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
We don't know anything referring to Michael Jackson about this and we will never know it in this life. Such memorial services, no matter who they are being celebrated for, are never about the deceased person because their soul is not here anymore from the moment of their death, but it is always about those who are left behind and have lost a loved one. And so we should pray for Michael's family. Unexpectedly and much too soon, they have lost a son, a brother, a father, an uncle. Like everybody else in such a situation, they are experiencing a deep and painful grief. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.
We should be praying that they might have heard the essentials of this memorial service, which they themselves have organized the Christian way, as I assume - that they will move it in their hearts and be aware of the importance in it and that they will entrust themsleves (maybe again) consciously to Jesus.
Only then, yesterday's memorial service in Los Angeles will have fulfilled its true purpose.
Falling Stars:
The Harvest Is Ripe In Hollywood
Shawn Bolz for the ElijahList, June 28, 2009
A Call to Action toward the Entertainment Industry
FOUNDING EDITOR'S NOTE: It’s imperative that we learn and grow as well as show great compassion during times of crisis, whether the death we observe is of a famous person or someone completely unknown.
This is an "Issachar" time to understand what is being allowed to happen on the same day by those who are known. This timing has to be more than coincidental.
Both deaths (and one previous to Thursday), were ICONS in Hollywood. The Bible teaches that there IS a time for each person to die. Unless we are alive when Jesus comes back, we will each have to face that day eventually ourselves.
Observing what God is allowing, the timing that it takes place, and learning to weep with those who weep is very key right now. We are rarely shown who accepted Christ "just in time" but whether they have received Jesus or not, the pain felt by surviving relatives is very real. At just such a time, our sympathies must be apparent and we should learn what God is teaching us with the timing He allows. -
Steve Shultz, BCN.
perspective on the world around us. As I watched people gathering on the streets for both of these stars, my heart broke. The issue of what happens after the death of some like these hanged in the air.
Shawn BolzA commission of love is being released toward the Entertainment Industry
The tragic passing of both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in one day [this past week] has hit the heart of Los Angeles in a devastating way. These two cultural icons, who pioneered in their respective industries, were loved. They were controversial, they were famous, they were broken, they were incredible—they were two of the people Jesus paid the price for on the cross. (Photo: Shawn Bolz)
For those of us living in Los Angeles, these kinds of events give us a much different
I have been getting e-mails all day. So many people had a burden for these two superstars. I know many Christians who surrounded Farrah Fawcett all the way to the end. She was prayed for. She put her hope in God. She was believing for miraculous healing, and she was even reading books from a Christian perspective about this. I am so grateful for her choices in the end, and that she and her now-widowed husband got married to honor each other and God. She will be missed.
Michael Jackson also had many Christians in his life giving him hope. They believed for restoration of who he was, not just as an entertainer, but as an individual. One of our radical Christian friends was going to be one of the choreographers on his new fifty-city tour. God was surrounding him with people who were called to love him on this mission ground of Hollywood…
Planting Mission Movements in Entertainment Cultures
Taking it a step further, I believe the Lord of the harvest is sending workers to the harvest field of the entertainment industry in a way that has never been so widespread. People are coming from all over the world to provoke God's love in the entertainment industries by working there.
Almost every major ministry we are connected to has begun to send people to minister here. Others are releasing people because they believe in their calling. Bethel, MorningStar, YWAM, Campus Crusade for Christ, TAC, Harvest Rock, HIM, Iris Ministries, etc. are all seeing the value of going into this industry to reap the harvest that is promised to Jesus…
Read the rest of this word from Shawn Bolz on the ElijahList by accessing the link provided.
= newest article, or still important and in need of prayers.