Exloring Life Eternal

Phil 1:3-9 I thank my God every time I remember you, always praying
with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you because of your
partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am convinced
of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to
completion by the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to
think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart. ...
all of you are partners with me in grace.

Dearly Beloved,

Have you reflected lately on the power and privilege of prayer? That
we, are privileged to - nay requested, to approach the throne of the
Almighty God of The Universe in speech?! That He not only may hear us
but does?! And He- GOD ALMIGHTY- wants us to?! This is God’s holy
calling that He has placed on our lives, to intercede for others in
prayer. Prayer is not something that we “just” do, this is something
that the Father Himself has given us, our Loving Lord that we are
speaking with. Brethren, please call each other to prayer – we have a
request, and we have a mandate.

James 5:13-20, “Is anyone of you suffering? He should keep on praying.
Is anyone cheerful? He should keep reciting psalms. Is anyone of
you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they
should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer offered in faith will save the person who is sick. The
Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed any sins, he will be
forgiven. Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one
another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The
prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a
man just like us, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and it
did not rain on the ground for three years and six months. Then he
prayed again, and heaven sent rain, and the ground produced its crops.
My brothers, if one of you wanders away from the truth and somebody
brings him back, you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back
from his wrong path will save his soul from death and cover a
multitude of sins. “

During my language lessons with a local woman I have been storying a
bit, trying to get into the swing of things, and as well as telling in
story-form some of the many miracles that the Lord has done in my life.

“Some years ago – my husband was pastor of a small church in the USA.
The season had been dry as a bone; many wildfires had burnt
neighboring lands. Then one day we too smelled smoke and knew that the
fires were somewhere nearby. The region was rugged, with timber on the
ridges prime fodder for the wildfire. The phone rang out, and a
friend said simply, 'Pray, the fires are above our homes, we will have
to be evacuated, pray now as you’ve never prayed before.' I called
everyone that I could think of in the area, and we went before the
throne. In a matter of minutes, a small dark cloud appeared in the sky
that had before had no promise of rain. This cloud swelled and the
wind carried it to above the raging wildfire where it promptly poured
the rain, and the wildfire was no more. The plane carrying chemicals
from the firefighters arrived too late_ MY GOD had stepped in. The
phone rang again, this time with praises for the Lord, and a statement
from my friend, 'now I KNOW that God hears prayers.'

I told this story to my local friend on Friday, Her eyes filled with
awe of what the Lord had done, and suddenly she blurted out, "Would
you pray for me and my eyes?" Beloved, we went to the throne and I
requested that He heal her body, eyes and her soul. We both wept
before Him. He did not heal her at that moment, but He has assured me
that He will heal her. I have been filled to overflowing with a
spirit of expectation since then, I KNOW it will be well. I’m calling
you to prayer, you our partners in the faith, let us all pray together
that her thirsty soul find the Living Water of Life, and her eyes be
healed.

Blessings,
From M.H. in Central Asia

The following article reveals a major chink in the thinking processes of some in government:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060220-121022-8852r.htm

A. This was the same sort of error that led to the downfall of Judah after Hezekiah's time.
B. The bin-Ladin family has construction companies in the UAE.
C. Which is more important: money or integrity?

I have friends in the UAE.
I desire the Good News to spread in the UAE.

However, just as I believe an expansionist policy is wrong for the USA (ie. it is wrong to build a USA empire in Muslim countries), it is also wrong for other countries to control major USA ports in this way. It is both unwise politically, internationally, historically, & ultimately economically.

Unless the USA government wishes to cede a certain portion of seats in Congress & certain offices in the White House & the Supreme Court to foreign governments, this seems foolish to me.

It is like spreading sand over our eyes.

The UAE government cannot grow legitimate vegetables in their deserts & now a UAE agency is being asked to control the USA ports?

I suppose that it is about as likely that Tel Aviv will become a popular destination to homosexuals & actively seek them out.

Oh ... that is already happening according to a story I read this past weekend.

Alas!


Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.

We thank you for sharing these requests and testimonies with us, Brother.
Keep up the good work! Our daughter and husband are in Kuwait.

- GC

(1) The number of churches that were burned, and the number of people that were killed in Saturday's riots in Nigeria has now been upwardly adjusted to 30 churches (from 15), and 17 people (from 15). This article is especially interesting in that it quotes from several Christians about how they plan to respond to the Muslim attacks on their community.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602210563.html

(2) On Sunday, 2 churches and 1 Christian school building were attacked and burned by cartoon protesters in Sukkur, Pakistan. So far, the Pakistan government, which was accused by Christians of a deliberately slow response to the attacks, has charged 22 people in the incident. This article, which interviews the Catholic Archbishop of Karachi, provides a good summary of both the immediate incident, and its broader context of ongoing problems with the Pakistani blasphemy law and last November's burning of 3 other churches by Pakistani Muslim mobs.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.267541088&par=0

(3) I think this editorial by a Pakistani Muslim has correctly seen who will benefit the most from the way Muslims have reacted to these cartoons (non-Muslim majority nations).

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C22%5Cstory_22-2-2006_pg3_3

(4) Pakistan has also asked the 57 nations of the Organization of Islamic Conference to convene a special meeting about the cartoon crisis. This meeting would appear to have the goals of getting (1) the "EU to adopt necessary legislative measures against “Islamophobia”" and (2) try to get the UN to pass a "resolution aimed at prohibiting defamation of prophets and faiths".

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.267686128&par=

(5) Meanwhile, the Danish Prime Minister has defended, in every detail, how his government has handled the crisis,

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a625c3e3-e66d-4c75-bf7f-81b42c25f903&k=23483

The Slovak Foreign minister has stated that the EU should be more "vigorous" in it's defense of the Danes.

http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?cl=22545

(6) In terms of actual protests, yesterday's call by Iran for cartoon protests to stop may be having some effect, as today there were only comparatively small protests in Pakistan (2,000) and Iraq (10,000). This article also discusses the reasons for the continuing unstable situation in Libya, where 11 died in protests last week, why a Saudi paper published some of the cartoons in late January, along with some other interesting new bits of information.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1140562213286&call_pageid=968332188854&col

=====

This is being posted roughly 1 week after the date in the header. Now, the cartoon phenomena has died down, but now division within Islam is being prominently displayed in Iraq.