Exloring Life Eternal

Prayer requests:

1. Pray for the Networks which send aid to those in need: Sadly, many use tragedies like this as an opportunity for personal gain. Please pray for the coordination, wisdom and strategy in the ministry of love.

2. At this time a lot of aid has entered Aceh and is stacked up. Pray for the coordination which is minimal. Supplies are available where there are no people to distribute them. People are plentiful in areas where there are no supplies. The situation is very confused.

3. Corpses are everywhere rotting in the sun. This raises the risk of disease. Pray that medical treatment which is available through various command posts can disease which is beginning to spread. Most dangerous are malaria, respiratory problems, diarreah, etc.) There are also many victims in serious condition which need nursing care as a result of the earthquake and tsunami.

4. There has been an outpouring of sympathy from Indonesian citizens. Support is being raised via television and other media. Indonesian people have been very generous with money, medicine, and volunteer labor. Indonesia declared three days of national mourning. Pray that all this money will actually get to the victims quickly. Pray against corruption on the part of irresponsible parties.

5. Christian groups are serving as well. Pray that through these ministries of love many people might be saved spiritually as well as physically. Pray for these opportunities to show the love of Jesus to those in need.

6. The government is giving free visas on arrival to "aid" workers good for 30 days. International aid is reaching Aceh. As of today nine countries or International organizations that have sent aid in the form of cash, medical equipment, medical personnel, rescue workers, disaster relief experts, population relocation experts and needs assessment personnel. Pray that all this help might be a sowing of love by the Muslim population of Aceh. Pray also that they might receive Christ.

7. Pray for the those ministering to the emotional needs of the vicitms. There will be long term effects of this tragedy. Pray for emotional restoration, those doing trauma counseling. Also pray for the physical needs (rebuilding homes, clean water, etc. which will be done by this association of the community of faith in Indonesia.)

Was Jesus serious when he said, "Love your enemy"?

Can Jesus enable what he commands when he spoke, "Be perfect, as your Father is perfect"? To me, this question, is my like asking if God could really accomplish what he set out to do, when He said, “Let there be light!” Was there really light that entered in? Or did darkness somehow have an indominable hold on the earth? Do we have the “foolish” Gospel of Peace? Or the “wise” Counsels of War?

"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this." - Isaiah 9:7

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, _each of us has turned to _his_own_way_; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." Isaiah 53:6-7

Finally, this good news of God's love encounters our suffering: Romans 8:36. I find it very instructive that in such a wonderful chapter, Paul is moved to deal with God's incomprehensible love juxtaposed against the incredible suffering we face: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, ... death, various angels, principalities, powers, past, present, future, etc, etc, etc. I think a religio-political ideology which is waging war on the saints (i.e. Islamism, Buddhism, or Radical Secularism) would fall into that.

NOTHING SEPARATES US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST!!

It is interesting to me that in Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul describes why there are "ministers" given to the church: "[Christ] Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Somehow, missionary types, prophetic types, gospellers, shepherds & teachers should:
equip saints to serve
build up the body of Christ
working towards the church's unity of trust in & knowledge of the Son of God
until we all become a perfect / mature person
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The end of this section of scripture says that the body grows via love.

Jesus is our measure:
God has given His Scriptures as our rule and constitution.
God has given His Son as our Ruler and King.
God has given His Spirit as our realm and kingdom.
God has given His Salem on Earth as our residence and quarters.
God has given His Sovereign Sympathy as our reason and cause.
God has given His Suffering as our reconciliation and cross.
God has given His Salvation as our righteousness and consecration.

So was Jesus serious about us loving our enemies?
Does this include peace?

A man after God's own heart prayed, "I am for peace, but they are for war when I speak." (Psalm 120:7) This same man was told that he would not be able to build the temple, as he so desired, because he had blood on his hands from during his various wars (1 Chronicles 22:6-10). THUS, it seems to me, that God does not want to be associated with violence, but with peace.

A historical argument to this effect: During the American Revolution/Rebellion in the 1700's, the only church movement that continued to grow was the methodist movement, which was avowedly a-political at the time. In other words, most churches were so eager to take sides in the war, one way or the other (Royal or Colonial), that the Gospel was forgotten. The war was preceded & followed by "Great Awakenings when new life, evangelism, church planting flourished. But only those that single-heartedly refused to be bogged down in politics & warring experienced the over-abundant work of God at the time.

The church is on decline in America, according to many measures ... is it because we have forgotten that the gospel is the gospel of peace and not the gospel of politics? While the Law has a place, the church is not to labor under the law but to labor in love.

LESSONS FROM A TSUNAMI:

www.nypost.com January 1, 2005:

QUAKE ANGEL
By DUNCAN LARCOMBE

January 1, 2005 -- PHUKET, Thailand - Quick-thinking 10-year-old Tilly Smith is being hailed as a hero after saving her parents and dozens of fellow vacationers from the deadly tsunami - thanks to a school geography lesson.
Tilly warned the doubting adults at a resort that a massive tidal wave was about to strike - just minutes before the deadly tide rushed in and turned the resort into rubble. Tilly's family, from Surrey, England, was enjoying a day at Maikhao Beach last Sunday when the sea rushed out and began to bubble.

Craig Smith, an American manager of the hotel the family was staying at, "... a tsunami is not like you see in the movies, where a huge wave wells up on the horizon and can be seen for miles off shore. It is more like a sudden surge of water. There's very little warning. She's a hero."

Tilly shrugged off the attention and modestly said, "Last term, my geography teacher, Mr. Kearney, taught us about earthquakes and how they can cause tsunamis. I was on the beach, and the water started to go funny. I recognized what was happening and had a feeling there was going to be a tsunami."

Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
(Thanks to David Depew <dpdepew@earthlink.net> for the pointer.)

Lessons:
Study in school. (If she hadn't, she wouldn't have known what to look for.)
Curiosity really can kill. (Most people went out to see what was happening to the waves)
Immediate obedience. (A delay of just a few minutes would have resulted in a deadly beach.)
Tsunamis are preceded by water going out into the sea rapidly, before surging. (The devil also often works by retreating into his lair before pouncing on his prey.)

======
ISLAM'S LEADING STATE DOESN'T (MUCH) CARE ABOUT TSUNAMI VICTIMS

Saudi Arabia is responding with just $10 billion for relief efforts.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28610241.htm

Meanwhile, just a few years ago, Saudi was boasting about a $4 million gift to propagate Islam.
http://www.saudiembassy.net/1995News/News/UsrDetail.asp?cIndex=4469
(Thanks to Ted <ted@a-msystems.com> for pointing this out.)

Here is the apparent reason:
http://www.rantburg.com/default.asp?D=6/26/2002
see the subtitle: Forget peace talks, just crush rebels: Jakarta
"#1 However, the Organization of the Islamic Conference defends the "territorial integrality" of Indonesia, while it favors "self-determination" in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Phillipines." , (RG Fulton)

Basically, since Indonesia, wants to remain united, they are using their membership in an Islamic organization (odd, since they profess to be pluralistic) to maintain the unity of their country. I.E. Islam is fighting for world domination. ... The sword of the gospel of peace will cut through those lies though. It remains powerful.

OBSERVATIONS:
The majority of the Quake-Tsunami victims were Muslims.
Saudi Arabia is not that lacking in funds ... they seem to have plenty of $$ to donate to spread the teachings of Mohammed.
There is a clear agenda. Only with much prayer, love, & truth will this be defeated. Again, it is critical that the Lord's help gets to Aceh soon!!

T.S. is requesting prayer. He is seeking the Lord. His neck was broken a couple months ago. He has lost most of his appetite. He is in constant & severe pain. A week ago, the day before Christmas, when I met him (He had been out of fellowship for a long time), he was hopeless & about ready to die, but this week, he seems to be hopeful.

T. was married to an Indonesian in an Islamic wedding, after being misled. He expresses a desire to be closer to the Lord again & feels like his prayers have not been heard. He is convinced that "the Word became flesh" in the Lord Jesus and that he died for his sins & was raised on the 3rd day.

Thank God for:

1. Tim's life.

2. Tim's family & their desire to do right.

3. The love of God towards Tim.

4. The Lord's patience with us all.

Please pray:

1. For the complete healing of his back & spinal injuries which are causing immense pain as well as other physical ailments due to compression of his nerves.

2. For freedom from old medical bills, by pardon &/or payment.

3. For the ability again to "taste & see that God is good."

4. For the Lord to re-unite them with the wider church body.

5. For the Lord to pour out every blessing on His home & salvation on his extended family!

We have seen God do other things. He can do this as well.

BTW: When I first met T., I was impressed to give him some money to help him due to unemployment. I didn't really have any to give. So I prayed the Lord would give me some to give to him. It was Christmas Eve & we went to a worship service. Although I had pleaded for $50, the Lord did give $40. Right after the service, a fellow I knew from that church slipped me some $. And I passed it on to T. As the Psalmist says, "Open your mouth, and I will fill it."

- Mert