Duty and Nearing to God

Posted on by
Reply

When he was finished, he examined how he had performed his duty. If he found well, he returned thanks to God. If not, he asked pardon and, without being discouraged, he set his mind right again. He then continued his exercise of the presence of God as if he had never deviated from it. “Thus,” said he, “by rising after my falls, and by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I have come to a state where it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom myself to the habit of thinking of Him.”

Brother Lawrence

Peter

Posted on by
Reply

Mark 10:28 Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Acts 5:29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!

Matthew 16:23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 14:30 Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

John 21:18-19 Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20 Christians in Prayer Assaulted

Posted on by
Reply

Already at the third anti-Christian, incident in the first month of the year dozens of Hindu activists of the RSS (Rashtriya Sangh Savayansevak) attacked 20 Christians of the Fellowship of New Life in a private house, 3km from the town of Haliyal.

Accusing those present of proselytism and forced conversions, the ultranationalists have begun to beat Kishore Kavalekar, a faithful, and Rev. Kalappa Chandrakanth Chavan, 27, under the eyes of his wife Vandana, 24, and 3 year old daughter.

After tearing the clothes of the pastor, the activists dragged him in front of the whole village. Finally, attackers tied him to a tree near a Hindu temple and called the Haliyal police. The police arrested Rev. Chandrakanth and Kishore, imprisoning them for 24 hours, leaving the RSS activists to roam free.

“Christians – adds Sajan George – are treated as second class citizens not only by the ultra-nationalist forces, but also the authorities. With the approach of Republic Day, it is time that the State ensures the Christian minority of its constitutional rights. “ Full Story

Widow and Daughters Stranded in India

Posted on by
Reply

An Afghan widow and three of her daughters, whose names cannot be disclosed for security reasons, received a deportation notice from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs after their first application for asylum was rejected by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in October 2009.

When the mother reapplied in July 2011 with her three daughters and a fourth daughter, who is widowed with a child, only the widowed daughter and child were accepted. The others are no longer permitted to correspond with the UNHCR office and are currently living in India as illegal immigrants.

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “In 2011, at least two Christians in Afghanistan were imprisoned by the Karzai administration, another was brutally beheaded by the Taliban, and nearly all Afghan Christians lived in fear of persecution. There is no evidence to suggest that the situation for Christians is improving, but every indication that it is only getting worse. Deporting the Christian widow and her three daughters back to Afghanistan will lead to inevitable hardship, if not imprisonment or even death. We urge the UNHCR to immediately reopen and approve this family’s applications for asylum.”   Full Story

Following Hard After God

Posted on by
Reply

My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. Ps. 63:8

Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.

We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. `No man can come to me,’ said our Lord, `except the Father which hath sent me draw him,’ and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for he act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: `Thy right hand upholdeth me.’ In this divine `upholding’ and human `following’ there is no contradiction. All is of God, for as von Hugel teaches, God is always previous.

A.W Tozer

Life and Doctrine

Posted on by
Reply

1 Timothy 4:16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Proverbs 19:3 A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

Deuteronomy 12:23 But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Titus 2:1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Seven Underground Churches Raided

Posted on by
Reply

Since the unexpected death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il December 17th, and the succession to power of his third son, Kim Jong Un, the underground Christian church has faced increased persecution.

“Three weeks ago seven underground churches got exposed,” says Thomas Kim, executive director of Cornerstone Ministries, which is actively involved in serving the church in North Korea. “It’s been very difficult for the last month and I think it’s going to continue,” he says.

The North Korean leadership apparently fears the kind of insurrection that swept other communist regimes and is now sweeping the Middle East. “They are scared there will be an uprising,” Kim notes. “They are scared by the expansion of the Christian faith because Christians will die for their faith.”

“Now the regime is putting out many people to search for the underground church,” Kim notes. “There is a need to pray for protection.” Full Story

Christians Attacked on False Charges

Posted on by
Reply

Hindu radicals armed with sticks and iron bars attacked 20 Pentecostal Christians in a private home in Anekal, near Bangalore.

The Hindutva nationalists accused the Christians of forced conversions. In the attack, Pastor Shanthakumar Srirangam, of the Agape Church, lost a finger of his left hand, while Vijay – a believer – was seriously injured in the leg.Even a woman, Mrs. Yashodamma, was attacked, resulting in a head injury, and perhaps permanent damage to a nerve of the right hand.

For Sajan K. George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians, “such a severe and unjustified aggression against innocent Christians is a serious violation of human rights and religious freedom. For the Christian minority of Karnataka, 2012 has begun in terror. ”

After the attack, Christians called the local police at Sarjapur. The police registered the case and accompanied the wounded to the state hospital, but have yet launch an investigation. Full Story