Archive for July, 2012
A FORTNIGHT OF PRAYER – DAY 11
Sunday, July 1st, 2012FREEDOM: of WORSHIP or RELIGION?
The Word of God has suffered at the hands of many a tyrant who has tried to destroy it. Pagan kings of Israel/Judah had tried to wipe it out…but could not. After the period of Christ’s Ministry, the persecution of the Church began in earnest as Christianity spread to the western world.
The Indestructible Book still could not be stopped. The Jews preserved the aging Hebrew manuscripts when the 72 scholars translated, what we call the Old Testament, into Greek less than 2400 years ago in Alexandria, Egypt. The early Christians used this Greek translation of the “Old Testament” (called the Septuagint) as the basis of our Faith. Most Christians spoke Greek in the new territories, hence the appearance of the letters and Gospels of the New Testaments in Greek.
Copies of some precious documents, especially the New Testament still exist. The earliest copy of the New Testament is from 150 AD and was written/copied over just decades after John the Revelator wrote the original gospel Book of John! Today, that which was preserved, is again under assault. If you wish to read about the Burning of Bibles by the religion of peace, which also burns down Christian churches and homes in their religion of peace middle eastern countries, CLICK HERE FOR A SHORT LIST. Just three years ago, US soldiers in Afghanistan were revealed to have burned Bibles sent from the US there, on orders from the High Command, after a news report from the Middle East TV Network Al Jazeera broke the story. Watch video here.
But we don’t have to go far abroad to find instances of persecution of Christians in North America. Whether it is some school district banning six year olds from singing “God bless America”; or a leftist judge ruling that a teenage kid cannot wear his Christian Faith T-shirt to school or even Orange County, California shutting down a Bible Study in somebody’s home….let me repeat that – INSIDE A COUPLE’S OWN HOME…it is happening now with rapid frequency in the United States.
A FORTNIGHT OF PRAYER – DAY 10
Sunday, July 1st, 2012STAND UP FOR YOUR CONVICTIONS
This is a different type of Prayer Focus Day as head towards the end of the designated 14 Days of Prayer, originally called by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops for Religious Liberty. Since then, several major conservative Protestant organizations, including myself, have joined in as there is always a great time to pray and obey.
As we come to the final Five Days, for this specific period, we have to resolve to NEVER stop praying! This is the main takeaway from what we are doing. The Bible says to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). This LITERALLY means (in the Greek) – LEAVE NO INTERVAL BETWEEN THE TIME YOU PRAY (for example NOW) AND THE NEXT TIME! It doesn’t mean you pull over every five minutes on the Interstate Highway, kneel down and pray. The key is to be in constant and repentant fellowship with the One Who created you and sent His Son to be the Bridge back to Him, so we can have that uniquely close relationship with our Father.
If you and I wish to see our children and families and therefore our local communities and towns do better, we must never cease from praying. We should never stop because the enemies of God – the devil – will not stop until he destroys our peace, our love for the Savior and each other and our children and their futures. Christ was NOT kidding when He said in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”.
Many Christians are now fearful since the US Supreme Court, in a stunning decision decided to legitimize a life-altering governmental decree which affects every single American. With or without knowing it, the decision has repercussions for Religious Liberty, Individual Freedom and personal choice. There is confusion in the Body of Christ about how to react to this and if we should really even want to pray God’s blessings to the people who do this kind of thing.
Again – yes, we have to, because God commanded us to. But several questions and concerns have come up in the past couple of days, which are worth considering and taking to the Lord in prayer: