Monday, November 24, 2008

Going rate to kill pastor: $250


This is horrible! Please pray for our brothers and sisters in India. I have posted the article below.

Going rate to kill pastor: $250
Rewards offered for murdering Christians, destroying homes, churches
Posted: November 20, 2008
11:30 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Hindu extremist groups are offering money, food and alcohol to anyone who murders Christians and destroys their homes.

The violence is nothing new in Orissa, India, where India's Communist Party estimates that more than 500 Christians have been killed by Hindu mobs in Orissa since late August, 12 times more than official government claims of only 40 homicides.

But now the stakes are even higher – and pastors have a bounty on their heads.

Faiz Rahman, chairman of Good News India, said Hindu militants are targeting Christian leaders, the Christian Post reported.

"The going price to kill a pastor is $250," he said.

Rahman, a head of several orphanages in Orissa State, said he's helped 25 pastors to leave refugee camps, but 250 Christian leaders are still in shelters.

"All of the pastors are high value targets," Rahman told the UK-based Release International. "We've got to get them out of the refugee camps."

An All-India Christian Council spokesman said, "People are being offered rewards to kill, and to destroy churches and Christian properties. They are being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons. They are given petrol and kerosene."
One official said he personally authorized "cremation of more than 200 bodies" found in jungles after Christians were blamed for the death of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 24. They continue to be persecuted even though Maoists openly admitted to murdering Saraswati.

Thousands of homes and churches have been destroyed, and an estimated 50,000 Christians have been forced to flee the violence. Mission Network News estimates 5,000 Christian homes have been burned and 200 churches ruined. According to the Christian Post, 30,000 people remain in government-operated refugee camps. Tens of thousands are living in forests – many seriously wounded.

Father Manoj, based at the archbishop’s office in Bhubaneshwar, said Christians remain in hiding.

"They are too scared to go home. They know that if they return to their villages they will be forced to convert to Hinduism."

Religious rights group Barnabus Fund told the group Hindu militants "forced" Christians in Orissa to "convert" to Hinduism by threatening them with rape if they refused.

Neighbors reportedly gang-raped a Hindu woman after her Christian uncle refused to renounce his faith, according to reports.

Another Christian woman named Jaspina was told by neighbors, "If you go on being Christian, we will burn your house and your children in front of you." She and her family were forced to eat cow excrement to "purify" themselves of Christianity.

Other Christians were doused with gasoline and told to participate in conversion ceremonies or be lit on fire.

This week, Hindu extremists said they have set a deadline for the capture of Saraswati's murderers. If the killers are not caught by Dec. 15, they promised to begin a massacre on Dec. 25, Christmas day.

According to the latest report, Orissa's Catholic bishops wrote an ominous letter to the state's chief minister. It read, "This conflict is a calculated and pre-planned master plan to wipe out Christianity from Kandhamal in order to realize the hidden agenda … of establishing a Hindu nation."

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Have you read your Bible lately?

Have you read your Bible lately? I know that is something that you may not want to talk about. Either because you do not read the Bible, maybe it has been a long time, or maybe you think you are too busy. I admit, that sometimes it is a struggle to read my Bible with all that is going on, but I do try to daily spend time with my Lord, through His Word.

All of that to say... I watched a very interesting show the other night on PBS. It was part of a series called Secrets of the Dead. This particular episode was called Battle for the Bible.  I would encourage you to watch it, just check your local listings. It was very educational. The show walked through how the Bible was translated and survived. "The dangers faced by religious reformers and those who translated the Bible into English are examined in this compelling episode," according to the site.

My husband and I have listened to MP3s that deal with this and I am blown away. People sacrificed all they had to get God's Word. People at one time could not have a copy of the Bible and when it was translated into their language it was outlawed. May people were killed by burning for even having a copy of the Bible.

That just causes my heart to be so burdened. I think about how many Bible's we have today and in a variety of translations- all at our fingertips- and what do we do with it? Nothing for the most part. We have God's Word in our hand and we are too busy for it. It seems like some people have reverted back to Catholicism in the fact that they only hear God's Word on Sunday from the pastor. Where is the passion? Where is the desire to read His truth? To know God?

I want to encourage you to read your Bible. We have so many resources out there that were bought with blood. Don't neglect your freedom to own and read God's Word.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Only Jesus

I have mentioned before how much I have enjoyed listening to the Valley of Vision CD. (By the way- it is on sale now!) There is a song that I love (I love them all- but this one is different)! It is called Only Jesus. You can download the lyrics or read them below. It brings my heart to worship every time I hear it. Not to mention the fact that my son comes running in the room when he hears it saying "only Jesus only Jesus mommy". What more could I ask for? 

If you want to hear part of the song, then click on the link above and you can select a song to listen to.

Only Jesus LYRICS
Item # M4175-09-58

By Doug Plank
These lyrics accompany the song "Only Jesus" from the Valley of Vision album.
Lyrics

Father of grace, You’ve sacrificed
Your only Son for us, the crucified Jesus
Enlarge our hearts to love Your Son
O grant to us the grace to walk with Him always
To make Him our great delight
Bringing worship with our lives

Only Jesus! Only Jesus!
Give us Jesus, we cry
Only Jesus! Only Jesus!
The Pearl of greatest price

Spirit of grace, You’ve shed Your light
Upon our darkened eyes, unveiling Jesus Christ
Come change our hearts, conform our ways
To honor Jesus’ Name, His glory our refrain
Let His love compel our own
As we worship at His throne

Jesus, our great Savior,
Lord of heaven, Son of God

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Baby things!

Here are two sites that have great baby things!! The LBS site has all handmade things from someone I went to college with. The Etsy site is all handmade as well.


 Little LBS. Design
 This site has great things for babies and children. All of it is so cute.




                                  
Etsy -Cocoon Prop Swaddle Wrap Blanket

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Baby Picture

I am going to brag a little. Abigail was chosen (along with 19 other babies) to have her picture on the wall at Parkridge East Hospital. The hospital remodeled the labor and delivery area and picked 20 babies to have their pictures taken by a professional photographer. If you live in the Chattanooga area you can go and see my baby on the wall!! She is close to room 130- which happens to be the room that we stayed in while we were there with Ezekiel. 
                                                           So here is her picture!!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Look at Titus


One of my pastors has been preaching through the book of Titus. I have learned a lot through this study. All of the sermons so far are on-line. Click HERE and listen through the book of Titus.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Another Book Giveaway!


It is time for another giveaway. The book is called Opening up Ephesians.

"Peter Jeffery leads young people into a careful study of the glorious book of Ephesians. Each chapter concludes with thought provoking questions which will challenge the reader to dig deeper and think harder about how these truths apply to their own lives."

Peter Jeffery began his ministry in South Wales, before serving Rugby Evangelical Free Church in the Midlands during a period of remarkable growth and then moving to the famous Bethlehem Church in Sandfields. Now retired, he continues to be in demand as a gospel preacher on both sides of the Atlantic.

So if you would like to enter the give away, just post a comment and leave me your e-mail address. You can blog about it if you have a blog, post me the link in a comment, and that will get you two entries! Sorry, but you need to live in the USA to win.
                                                      I will draw the winner on November 28Th