"End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it . . . White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Monday, November 29, 2010
Music Lyric Monday
Fragile finger sent to heal us Tender brow prepared for thorn Tiny heart whose blood will save us Unto us is born Unto us is born So wrap our injured flesh around You Breathe our air and walk our sod Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God Perfect Son of God Welcome to our world
A wonderful passage from Chesterton, quoted with approval (for obvious enough reasons) by Slavoj Zizek:
“When the world shook and the sun was wiped out of heaven, it was not at the crucifixion but at the cry from the cross (‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’), the cry which confesses that God was forsaken of God. And now let the revolutionists choose a creed from all the creeds and a god from all the gods of the world, carefully weighing all the gods of inevitable occurrence and unalterable power. They will not find another god who has himself been in revolt, nay (the matter grows too difficult for human speech) but let the atheists themselves choose a god. They will find only one divinity who has ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist.”
God has been kind enough to give us yet another Advent season, and so we should be resolved to live in it as true Christians. This means standing against the spirit of this age. This means learning what Scripture intends when it says that there is a way that seems right unto a man, and the end thereof is death (Prov. 14:12). What does this mean?
The unbelieving soul is incurably religious, and loves to pass on pious strictures as though God had been pleased to create a tiny universe, in order that He would have something to be stingy with. Is it really that easy for pious Christians to get God and the devil confused?
No, no, in Christ’s name, no. We do not give anything up. We are privileged often to give things away, including ourselves, but that is another activity entirely. When you give things up you are acting like a son of the devil—he is the father of lies, and he started with you. The lie here is that God is a grinch.
When you give things away, they always come back to you—thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. When you give things away, there is a person on the other end, receiving. What you are giving is called a present. When you give presents, you are acting like God. When you give expensive presents, you are acting like God. When you give unreasonable presents, you are acting like God.
But when you give unreasonably like this, won’t you run out? No . . . the one who supplies seed to the sower will continue to supply you with all you need (2 Cor. 9:10). This is why we should be dedicated to learning how to give in order to get, in order to give again. Wisdom is needed here, but it is not a stingy wisdom.
The Grace of God in our Circumstances: Why you weren't Born as an Impoverished Child in an Unreached Nation
Michael Oh. Oh, Michael! The weight of these words below has been heavy on my heart for these last few months. It's uncanny how some of my exact thoughts & burdens & praises are transcribed here & now by a fellow missionary in Japan. Takanori-san's story at the end is also a common one here in Japan. I've now listened multiple times to first hand accounts of Japanese life that's more grim & dull than the lights of Tokyo are bright. And I've listened to the stories of the internationals who come here from poorer parts of Asia seeking a new start in Japan, only to be caught in a vicious cycle of sin, exploitation, & hopelessness.
At times the reality of my salvation has not been as precious to me as it should. In fact, living in such a Godless society, I've recently found myself much more likely to question God's existence, goodness, & sovereignty for not saving millions & billions than I have been floored by humility that He, for no goodness in me, set me apart unto a different eternal fate than those on the broad path.
So why me? Why you? Read: -------------------------------
Have you ever thought about why you were born into your particular circumstances? If you are reading this blog entry you are most likely a Christian whose life has been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You are also likely relatively wealthy, at least compared to most people living in the world. If you have the ability to eat three times per day and have shelter over your head, you are better off than many people in the world. If you earn $25,000 per year, you are the richest 10% of the world. You are rich. In fact if you earn $2,200 per year you are the richest 15% of the world. If you reading this you are literate and likely had several years of education. If so you have received more education than hundreds of millions of people around the world. Perhaps you have gone to college, even graduate school.
So why? Why you? Why your particular circumstances? There are people around the world who might be asking the same questions. Wondering why they weren't born in America. Wondering why they can't eat three times per day, why they don't have the luxury of throwing food away. Wondering what it would be like to go to school or attend college or even read. Wondering what a warm bed feels like.
You could have been born as an impoverished child in an unreached nation. Perhaps as a girl born into a Muslim family where you would be forbidden to show anything beyond what can be seen through the eye slits of your veil and could be beaten if you disobeyed even the simplest command of your father. You could have been born in a remote village in Vietnam with little food or education and no opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You could have been born as a girl in Africa who will eventually be sold by your parents into sexual slavery. That could have been you.
But it's not you. Instead you were born into privileged circumstances. Blessed physically, educationally, financially, and spiritually. Why? Only by the grace of God. What is our response then to such blessing and grace?
Certainly God calls us to be thankful. But too few of us are. We take for granted the blessings that we have received from God. Instead of thanksgiving for what we have received, we complain about and lust after the things that we don't have. We covet what our neighbors have. We idolize material things. We are surrounded by clear, tangible, practical blessings from God that should be so easily recognized and enjoyed. But our eyes and hearts are too often and too easily diverted toward what we don't have by the power and persuasion of advertising and social pressure. Lord, forgive us for our lack of thanksgiving!
And another crucial response to God's blessings and grace in our lives should be to look to share with those in need. Rather than looking at our own circumstances and then the unfortunate circumstances of others and saying, "Thank God I'm not them!" We need to recognize that our circumstances are by the grace of God alone in order that the grace of God might spread from us to others. This is certainly true in care of the global poor. If Christians would simply tithe it is said that the global church would have sufficient funds to solve world poverty. Many Christians in developed nations of the world are growing more and more wealthy. But at the same time as wealth grows, the percentage of giving is decreasing. Giving among Christians was higher during the Great Depression than it is today. That shows that many Christians see offering as more of a tax than an act of worship and a response of thanksgiving.
But even more important is the response of sharing spiritual blessing with the unreached peoples of the world. If YOU were born into a fundamentalist Islamic family what would YOU want Christians in America to do? If YOU were born into a family of a Shinto priest, how would YOU want Christians in America to respond? Knowing what you know today, certainly you would want them to share with you about eternal life through the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. Certainly you would want them to bring the Gospel to their nation and teach them about salvation for their souls and about eternal life. Certainly you would want churches and Christians in other nations to sacrifice financially to send missionaries to teach you the Bible, God's Word to this world.
But again, by the grace of God, you WEREN'T born into those circumstances. You were born into your own. So you can ignore what COULD HAVE BEEN and just continue in the circumstances you have been given by God's grace. Or you can choose to recognize that you are who you are, that you are saved, that you are blessed, that you are undeservedly loved— only by the grace of God— and choose to do all that is in your power to help those in need. To invest the blessing of your education for those who have none. To invest the blessing of your finances to help those who have little or none. To invest your spiritually blessed life to help those around the world who are lost without Christ to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
Takanori Oba is a young man who was born in Japan, the largest unreached nation of the world. He was born to a father who when he would get drunk took out his anger by beating his son and throwing golf balls at his head. In the evening when his father returned to their apartment Takanori would quickly turn out his light and pretend to be sleeping hoping to avoid a whipping by his father's belt. Perhaps you are thinking, "Thank God that I wasn't born into a life like his." Eventually Takanori and his mother escaped their father and home to start a new life. Years later the grace of God reached down to Takanori Oba and saved his soul. He later became the first graduate of Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, Japan where I serve as president. During the second year of his studies he was able to visit his abusive father, seeing him for the first time in over 15 years. When he saw his father, God gave Taka a logic-defying compassion for the man who had caused him such pain.
Why was Takanori born into his circumstances? Was it a curse? No, it was the grace of God. And today Takanori is seeking to share that same grace with the father who abused him. That's what Takanori would have wanted if he were born into his father's circumstances. That's the Golden Rule.
Even Government Churches Face Official Persecution: Local Authorities Demolish TSPM Church
Government Sanctioned Church Building in Coastal China Demolished on Nov. 19 of 2010
(November 22, 2010) -- In a move that demonstrated that even government churches in China are not safe from official persecution, a church of the Three Self Patriotic Movement was demolished on Friday morning in coastal China by order of the local government, ending a four-year battle by the congregation to save their church building.
Following the demolition of the Chengnan Church, in Tinghu district, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, on November 19, the several hundred members of the church are faced with the reality of having nowhere to worship on Sunday morning despite being a legally registered, government church. The church demolition was a victory for the local government and the real estate developer.
ChinaAid denounces the illegal conduct of Yancheng authorities of Jiangsu Province in tearing down Chengnan Church and calls on other TSPM churches in Jiangsu and other parts of China to come to the aid of this church, unite with house churches in our common fight against the government’s “backhoe policy,” and refuse to be intimidated in order to glorify the holy name of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, said: “While the government’s powerful backhoes can destroy church buildings, it can never destroy the faith in the hearts and souls of believers. No one can stop the vigorous growth of the church in China. The Cross will surely be hoisted high in China by the glory of God and the sickle and ax will surely fall in shame.”
Photo captions:
These photos were taken at the site:
1．In accordance with Chinese superstition regarding construction projects, a string of fireworks is lit to ward off bad luck before the workers begin work.
2．A backhoe begins to wreak one of the church buildings.
3．Two backhoes operating at the same time.
4．The moment the cross is pulled down.
5．The building comes crashing down.
6．Reduced to rubble
7．Destruction of the last two walls.
8．The slogan on the wall of the church, states in large, clear characters: Venues for religious activities are protected by the law.
I like this view on Christmas - it doesn't mean you can't be charitable in other areas & that you can't set caps, but we Christians should be partying the hardest & celebrating the most & giving in gladness more so than all others combined. What says you? -----------------------------------------------------------
Many Christians have been greatly helped by Dave Ramsey and his teaching on how to get out of debt, and I’m very grateful for the impact he has had. However, sometimes sincere Christian people can turn the weirdest things into a new super-law, and I’ve seen this come from an over-application of his principles. For example, somewhere he says that Christmas is not an emergency. Come on! Are you kidding me? Of course it is!
This is what I mean. In a zeal to get out of debt, to get the emergency fund set up, and to get the savings account up to the equivalent of several months’ salary, some folks have ceased to see what money is for. It really can start controlling their lives, this program of not spending. Sometimes they end up short-changing their kids (or themselves) and adopt a poverty-stricken persona, and constantly refer to the fact that they have no money. But the truth is, they do have money, but they are shoveling most of it into the debt payback and the savings account. They elevate thrift-shopping and driving a beater car into a virtue, right up there with humility and patience. And there is a dangerous self-righteousness that can set in. But God did not list saving for college in the list of virtues. And just to be clear, I’m all for savings and all for getting out of debt. Three cheers! The thing that concerns me is when sweet Christian people get all worked up about saving every nickel and think they are being godly.
The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. But there are subtle ways to love money that we might not notice right off the bat. For example, deciding that you can’t get the kids new toys or new clothes, you can’t afford a car, you can’t afford to fly out to see your nephew’s wedding, and you probably can’t even afford a Christmas tree because it will get you off the financial plan is what I would call bogus.
Money is a tool. It is to be used to bestow on our loved ones, particularly our children. The principle of getting out of debt and having an emergency fund does not trump all other principles. Christmas is an emergency! Get a thousand bucks out of your savings and whoop it up with your kids. God sent His Son to us, to save us from the horrible plight we were in. He lavishes us with His generosity, His kindness, His love and mercy.
So, of course, if you have no money to spend at Christmas (and I’ve been there myself), then you must get creative and hit the thrift stores by all means. But if you really do have the money, but it is earmarked for your emergency fund, then get into it. I remember hearing about a man who went to his church for help because he was in a financial crisis. When one of the Christian gentlemen went to help him, he found out that the man actually had lots of money, but he didn’t want to take a penalty for cashing in his cd early. It is pretty bad when Christian people pretend they have no money, leading others to think they are suitable objects for their charity, when in fact, they have plenty of money. They just don’t want to use it; they want someone else to pay their way. This is frugality gone amok.
So please keep working to get out of debt. Work on that savings account. But don’t get stingy and greedy about it, and don’t start thinking that you are being super-righteous for doing so. The Bible says to “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth” (Ecc. 11:1-2). You don’t know the future. How many more Christmases will you be here? Make a dent in this one!
"I humbly ask you...have the same heart as God. Please pray that the same light of God's grace & mercy that reached my father & my mother, & now me, will one day come down upon the people of North Korea, my people." - Kyung Ju Song
I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame And every time I pass that way I always hear my name Then onward in my journey I come to understand That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand
This recent survey from iShare looked into the Japanese bedroom to find out how couples sleep in Japan.
Demographics
Between the 26th and 29th of October 2010 615 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.4% of the sample were male, 24.1% in their twenties, 35.0% in their thirties, and 41/0% in their forties.
Q1SQ1 is perhaps slightly misleading as I suspect people who sleep on futons often use two single quilts and two single matresses pushed together as double futons are the exception rather than the rule, although I should look for statistics to back up this claim.
Some of the reasons for sleeping in separate rooms were due to a baby displacing the husband, but noisy snoring was also a factor.
Q1SQ1: How do you currently sleep at home? (Sample size=239)
All
Male N=128
Female N=111
Same bed, futon
33.5%
31.3%
36.0%
Same room, different beds, futons close together
39.3%
39.8%
38.7%
Same room, different beds, futons far apart
3.3%
4.7%
1.8%
Different rooms
23.8%
24.2%
23.4%
The older couples got the further they drifted away. By their forties, 27.9% were in different rooms.
Q1SQ2: How would you like to sleep at home? (Sample size=239)
All
Male N=128
Female N=111
Same bed, futon
31.8%
36.7%
26.1%
Same room, different beds, futons close together
43.1%
44.5%
41.4%
Same room, different beds, futons far apart
5.0%
2.3%
8.1%
Different rooms
20.1%
16.4%
24.3%
About three-quarters of those currently sharing a bed or sleeping close together wanted to stay that way, but only half of those in different rooms did.
Q1SQ3: If you were married, how would you want to sleep at home? (Sample size=376)
US Dollar Worth Less, Missionaries Suffer the Consequences
The U.S. dollar is going down in value, adding extra strain to missionaries living in foreign countries but receiving funding from the States.
International (MNN) ― The economic standing of the U.S. is directly affecting missions work.
As if a national rise in downturns wasn't enough, the U.S. dollar could now be facing a significant depreciation. In an attempt to boost the failing economy, the Federal Reserve has vowed to print $600 billion and pump it into the country by purchasing Treasury bonds -- an initiative they've dubbed Quantitative Easing 2 (QE2).
Part of the reasoning is that with more money in the system, the dollar will essentially cost less to purchase, so foreign investors may purchase more in U.S. exports. Interest rates in the States will also go down, hopefully encouraging more small businesses to start, and thus more jobs to be created.
There's another side to this coin, though. The devaluation of the dollar hurts the cause of Americans living in foreign countries, such as the missionaries with Pioneers USA. If the dollar-to-foreign-currency ratio is lower than these missionaries originally anticipated, the support they raised may no longer be enough.
The weakening of the dollar comes at an already tough time for foreign missionaries. Many, especially those funded mainly by ministries rather than personal donors, have already suffered as job cuts have forced some long-term supporters to cease their giving. Missionaries seem to have adjusted to those changes, but QE2 will raise the need for additional compromises.
"We've kind of come through that phase of 'tightening belts' already, because of the downturn," says PIONEERS president Ted Esler. "Now with the fall of the U.S. dollar, those who are living in some of these various places around the world are really feeling the pinch at this time."
On top of this difficult hurdle is a rise in the cost of healthcare. Esler says PIONEERS has found that even missionaries under international healthcare have had to obtain U.S. policies, significantly increasing their costs.
"A missionary living overseas who has something catastrophic happen will return home. And when they return home, they will go onto a U.S. policy, as opposed to where they were, on an international policy. The results of that are the U.S. policy tends to have a number of people in it with greater health insurance needs, and that pushes the premiums up," explains Esler. "So the whole system is set up, in one sense, to work against anybody who could be trying to raise funds for a stateside position to support missionaries on the field, because our rates are going to be substantially higher."
To top it all off, some missionaries are being asked to pay local taxes for the national healthcare within the countries they are living. "So there's also some concern that missionaries will be taxed both in the sending country and in the receiving country on their income." These practices are already taking place in France and Indonesia.
A combination of job losses and pay cuts of previous donors, the depreciation of the dollar, a rise in the cost of healthcare, and a change in foreign government taxation policies could slow the pace of overseas ministry. Already, missionaries have had to make compromises by eliminating project ideas so they can simply have enough to live. Others have come home early. What kind of effects will we see in the future?
Esler says, "[It] probably won't be people that come home from the field and don't go back. But you'll see missionaries who are on a schedule to return home to work on support raising, who will move that schedule up so they'll be back earlier. And it may take them a little longer to raise additional funds than it would have in a different situation."
More time spent raising funds means less time on the field, less time spent spreading the Gospel to those who are most desperately in need. Pray for PIONEERS missionaries and other missionaries you may know. Pray that the Lord would provide them with all they need to be most effective in spreading the Gospel across the globe. Pray that economics would not be a big enough obstacle to keep the Gospel from moving forward.
God has promised to provide for His children. Yet, no sane person would ever find fault with God if someone stopped going to work, got fired, lost their home, possessions, all they had in the world, because they just didn't go to work. Or what if they just stopped paying the bills - is God ever to blame for that? Does that make this abundance of verses on His providing for us a lie? Did God fail to do what He said He would do if we become totally self-indulgent & expect Him to work magic for us despite our own actions? This is possible with God, but this isn't the way He's set things up.
So why, pray tell, do we question God when it comes to the damnation of those who have never heard the Gospel? Could God save every man, woman, & child apart from us? You better believe it. But this isn't the way He's set things up. He has made it clear that we are the means in which He chooses to use for the salvation of the ends of the earth. Matthew 10, 13, 28:16-20, Mark 16:15, & Romans 10 & 15, just to name a few, make it clear that the nations will hear when we go to them & proclaim the Gospel. So why is it that the Coca-Cola Company can have its product found in the deepest jungles among the unreached & you can't find the Gospel there? Coke, motivated by money, has done what we have failed to do - go to the ends of the earth. But we're supposed to have the most precious treasure of all.
God promises to provide for us, but every single one of us recognizes that a job is a gift from God, we pay our bills with the bounty God has provided, & we know God provides through those means. We don't expect His provision to materialize from thin air.
In the same regard, when God tells us the nations will repent & believe when we go to them, what do we expect to happen in the world when we disobey God. Why are there billions lost? Why are there billions of unreached who have never even heard the Gospel one time? Because God is impotent? Fake? It's because we don't go, we don't support, we don't send, & we most shamefully don't even pray. How do I know that's the case? Because the same way God promises to provide, & He does, I also know God's promises on the salvation of nations is true. So, if God isn't providing, the fault lies with you for your laziness or irresponsibility. And if God isn't saving, it's because His means of doing so is rebellious. What do you expect, we don't give, go, or pray (o r do so in the most minimalistic way) & God will do magic tricks? He's quite capable, but He gets more glory when weasels like us obey Him & show Him supreme. God tarries because you do.
This is worth a whole song post. Christian music struggles to paint the picture of a glorious God & often in turn diminishes the beauty & magnificence of God by trite, poppy lyrics & songs. I do listen to as much Christian music as possible, & though the above statement I think is very true, there are a few bright spots, & I try to use those artists & lyrics to worship & praise God. I also, however, find grandeur & beauty & joy in composed music that to my ears often sounds heaven sent. And another area of music I enjoy is folk or songwriter music. The redemptive quality I find in folk music is that most of the songs are simply stories about life. If it's a story about death, birth, a hummingbird, an old country road, a particular city, nature, love, loss, pain, family, etc...I can't help as a Christian to think about God, the Author of all those things. I am grateful for the secular artists who use their God given (even if He's not recognized) talents of writing & music to help me contemplate the life we're given by God, though I recognize the limits to being able to truly worship this way & the need for directly God glorifying music.
All that to say, an artist who I listen to after hearing him do some background work for one of my favorite artists is a guy named Mark Erelli. He has a sweet album of lullabies for his son & is a gifted, gifted song writer. Singing talent isn't the best or easiest to listen to in my opinion - kind of like Bob Dylan but a bit better - but I love to be in the stories he creates.
Mark graduated with a biology degree & has a master's degree in evolutionary biology & is an atheist. What I have learned is that the gay, the liberal, the atheist, the secularist, the lost, they are deceived, not our enemy. Yes, I understand some hate Christianity & are on a mission to rid the world of us, but if they die without repenting God will judge them as His enemies. But here & now for us, we should have our hearts broken in humility for those who don't know the saving grace we have. We should realize that with the divorce rate among Christians & the lost in the US being the same, calls for Koran burnings, websites like godhatesfags.com set up by 'churches,' it's clear to see why those who by their own sinful nature already don't want to bend the knee find plenty of extra excuses by looking at the 'church.'
So my hopes are that you can read these lyrics & hear this song & have your heart broken for those who haven't been divinely rescued like you or me. Jesus came to seek & save the lost, so to have a heart like His I think is to have a broken heart for those who don't know Him as well as a love for those who do. I do not think this is the same thing as listening to Eminem rap about killing his wife or tying his girlfriend to the bed & burning the house down in order to study the mindset of the unbeliever. This isn't trashy but an artistic expression of a faith point of view - atheism. It's like reading Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. But, just to be clear, I'm not advocating this as a replacement to music that directly worships, honors, glorifies, & praises God. My hopes for writing all the above is that some Christians would replace self-righteousness towards unbelievers with the love of Christ. It was the love of Jesus, not the wrath of His believers, that ultimately broke me & made me His.
This song is Kingdom Come by Mark Erelli & it was written for the album called the Darwin Song Project:
KINGDOM COME:
The wasp she lays an egg 'Neath a caterpillar's skin It hatches and the larva grows Feasting from within It kills the host then off it goes To sting another one Seems to me there's too much misery to believe in Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Seems to me there's too much misery to believe in Kingdom Come
I've a secret guaranteed To make the theologians squirm All it takes is time to make a man From the lowliest of worms We are not the pinnacle Nobody's chosen ones Can the minds of men be trusted with such things as Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Can the minds of men be trusted with such things as Kingdom Come
Once I had a daughter She died before her time I sponged her fevered brow And cursed her bilious decline I feel her like a phantom limb Pins and needles numb Friend I cannot comprehend what makes you cling to Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Friend I cannot comprehend what makes you cling to Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Seems to me there's too much misery Can the minds of men be trusted I cannot comprehend what makes you cling to Kingdom Come
I've known communion in conviction And the loneliness of doubt Does the master mark the sparrow's fall Or just let it all play out If only for your sake my love I wish I could succumb Bridge the void and join for eternity in your Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Bridge the void and join for eternity in your Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Bridge the void and join for eternity in your Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Seems to me there's too much misery to believe in Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Can the minds of men be trusted with such things as Kingdom Come
DUBLIN (Compass Direct News) – Officials in Katin village, southern Laos have ordered six more Christian families to renounce their faith or face expulsion in early January, advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported Tuesday.
The Katin chief and the village religious affairs officer, along with local security forces, recently approached the six families with the threat after having expelled 11 Christian families, totaling 48 people, at gunpoint last January. The six families now under threat had become Christians since the January expulsion
The eviction last January followed months of threats and harassment, including the confiscation of livestock and other property, the detention of 80 men, women and children in a school compound and the death by asphyxiation of a Christian villager.
Immediately after the expulsion, two more families in Katin village became Christians despite the obvious risk to their personal safety, according to HRWLRF. The village chief allowed them to remain in Katin but warned all villagers that their own homes would be “torn down” if they made contact with the expelled Christians.
In the following months, the expelled villagers suffered from a lack of adequate shelter, food and water, leading to eye and skin infections, diarrhea, dehydration and even the death of one villager. Katin authorities also denied Christian children access to the village school.
District officials in early May gave the Christians permission to return to Katin and take rice from their family barns to prevent starvation, said another source on condition of anonymity. Some families then tried to cultivate their rice fields to avoid losing them completely, but the work was extremely difficult as authorities had confiscated their buffaloes, essential to agriculture in Laos.
Threat to Shoot In July, officials from the Saravan provincial headquarters and the Ta-oyl district religious affairs office met with the evicted families in their shelters at the edge of the jungle and encouraged them to return to Katin, HRWLRF said.
The Christians agreed to return under five conditions: that authorities designate a Christian “zone” within Katin to avoid conflict with non-believers; that all forms of persecution end; that their children return to school; that Christians must be granted the right of burial in the village cemetery; and that the village award compensation for six homes destroyed in the January eviction.
When higher-level officials approached Katin leaders with these terms, village officials and local residents rejected them, insisting that they would only allow the Christians to return if they gave up their faith. The higher officials invoked Decree 92, a law guaranteeing the rights of religious minorities, but village heads said they would shoot every Christian who returned to Katin.
Shortly after this discussion took place, a further four families in Katin became Christians, according to HRWLRF.
A communist country, Laos is 1.5 percent Christian and 67 percent Buddhist, with the remainder unspecified. Article 6 and Article 30 of the Lao Constitution guarantee the right of Christians and other religious minorities to practice the religion of their choice without discrimination or penalty.
"To show love to wolves is just another way of hating sheep. To love sheep, as all good shepherds must, is to hate wolves" ("Sola Scriptura, Creeds, and Ecclesiastical Authority" in When Shall These Things Be?, p. 273).
Domino’s Pizza Japan, Inc. is offering a 2.5 million yen ($31,000) part-time job in December.
The popular American pizza outlet said Thursday it will hire one person for the one-hour job, which requires neither experience nor education, only that applicants must be over 18.
The company gave no further information. Domino said it will provide details on Nov. 10.
It said the 2.5 million yen job was part of its campaign commemorating the 25th anniversary of its arrival in Japan.
The average hourly wage of part-time workers in Japan is around 1,000 yen ($12), according to the government.
My San Francisco Giants are World Champions! Ever since I was 7 years old & laid eyes on my first sports hero, Will "the Thrill" Clark, I have loved & followed the Giants. I remember my dad went to LA on a business trip & came back with a laminated 8X10 photo of Clark which is classic - going to LA, Dodger nation, & bringing back a Giants souvenir! That was 24 years ago - & I have watched the Giants get swept in the Series in '89, be 6 outs away in game 6 of the '02 Series only to blow that game then lose game 7 & the Series. I remember 1993 when they won over 100 games & still were beat out of the playoffs by the Braves on the last day of the season. Since baseball was my first sports love, my passion for all my pro sports team is highest for San Francisco.
And you get a lot of junk for being a Giant fan from the Southeast. You're supposed to be a fair weather Braves fan. But now, finally, the torture is over! (don't take torture literally, that was the Giants nickname for their brand of winning this season - close, tight, gutsy games). Until the pennant series & the World Series that is!
So to Rick Brady, the only living human being I've ever met who is a Giants fan too - I play the playoff anthem of our World Series Champions, The San Francisco Giants! All the weird references have actual meaning, but, it's a Giants thing, you wouldn't understand:
If I can remember, I think I'll start a theme for Mondays...& I'll use amazing alliteration like I just did & call it Music Lyric Monday. The point? I'm not sure. Fun?
Anyways, typically I'll take a song lyric I remember, secular or whatever, & post it every Monday. It will almost always be short, & in isolating that lyric, it'll either echo a biblical worldview (quite accidentally most times I'm sure) or highlight the mindset of the world. You should be able to tell which. Here's the first entry:
