To Kill an American

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is so they would know when they found one.

" An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.
In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.
The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American."

Christ is Born! Alleluia!



Here’s an ancient hymn of the church that anchors an appropriate reverence for the advent season. It's words and good to meditate upon.



Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly minded, For with blessing in His hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.



King of kings, yet born of Mary, As of old on earth He stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture, In the body and the blood;

He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food.



Rank on rank the host of heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day,

That the powers of hell may vanish As the darkness clears away.



At His feet the six winged seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry:

Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Lord Most High!



—Liturgy of St. James, 4th c., Tr. Gerard Moultrie, sung to “Picardy”

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Father; Son; Spirit.
God the unknowable, beyond us, who's ways and thinking are far beyond us.
God the revealed, explained, demonstrated, related to us.
God inside us, transforming, guiding, inspiring, convicting, translating for us.

I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I had asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
— Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I often try to envision Benjamin Franklin rising to give his beautiful call to prayer in 1787 as representatives had become flustered after weeks of trying to write the Constitution of the United States. The 81-year-old Franklin offered one of the most beautiful discourses ever recorded. He said, in part:

“I have lived, Sirs, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘that God governs in the affairs of man.’ And if a sparrow cannot fail to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sirs, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest. …”

It's been a long time since I blogged, but I had to say a huge THANK YOU to Mark Haverty for designing, building and publishing the 3rd generation of web site for Londonderry Church of the Nazarene. What a great job!
What makes it more amazing to me is that mark did this while moving house, selling his car, preparing to relocate his family from the UK to the US, clearing family visas through the London US Embassy, and just about a hundred other things. mark you are a real trooper! AND you did all this just as a fvor to me. You are the best!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Wild gorillas seen to use tools

Just an example of the all-pervasive presence of the faith-system called Secular Humanism in the media - in this case the BBC - again. That gorillas use sticks as tools is hardly news. We wtached them doing it on our TV screens in the 70's.

But now - "Stop press!" it's suddenly news. (No, it's not!) And now, it means that we have fresh insights into the origins of humans. (Err, how exactly?)

(Sigh...)

Soduko - totally addictive.

Sudoku - Su Doko - Daily Sudoku - Su Duko - Sudoku puzzle - puzzles

Dancing With God (passed to me from Mary Myatt)

When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.

It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.

When I saw "G: I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i". "God, "u" and "i" "dance". I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and guide you through each season of your life.

And I Hope You Dance!

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble
up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick
along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and
grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and a pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and
beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our
rent and not swear in the street. And set a good example
for the children. We will have friends to dinner and read
the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

~ Jenny Joseph ~

It's great to see Nazarene's in the press! And our District superintendent's church, no less:

Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / At this church, no language barrier

Farewell, Ivan. I hope to know you yet.

A friend of mine has died, and he never even knew me. I really never knew him, but he felt like a friend. A brave, honest man who died at the young age of 37 of a brain tumor. He was a web journalist working for the BBC in their science department. For 2 years now I have been reading his web-log of his experiences with cancer. Here is the link to his obituary, and in tuen links into his remarkable blog.

BBC NEWS | UK | Ivan Noble: An appreciation

I have no idea if Ivan will be in heaven when I get there - I have no spiritual x-ray machine that will tell me if a person died in relationship to Christ or not. I do know that God is good and He will do right. I leave it there. Reading his final couple of blog entries I notice Ivan uses the language of faith: 'blessings'. I hope he is at peace with God.

I have lived longer than Ivan did. Ivan's suffering and death focus my heart on Heaven and set my standards for today. Thank you, Ivan the brave.

THE ENEMY WITH IN

The Muslim religion in the fastest growing religion per capita in the United States, especially in the minority races!!!

Allah or Jesus? by Rick Mathes Last month I attended my annual training session hat's required for maintaining my state prison security learance. During the training session there was a presentation by three speakers representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of their belief systems

I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with a video.

After the presentations, time was provided for questions and answers.

When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked: "Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?"

There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, "Non-believers!"

I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."

I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr.Stanley
ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to Heaven!"

The Imam was speechless.

I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill me in order to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to Heaven and He wants you to be with me?" You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.

Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification' training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the Islamic Imam and exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.

I think everyone in the US should be required to read this, but with the liberal justice system, liberal media, and the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized.

This is a true story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well-known leader in prison ministry.

Cowboy Poetry

Just for fun:

Jake, the rancher, went one day to fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty and the clouds rolled gray and dense.
As he pounded the last staples in and gathered tools to go.
The temperature had fallen, the wind and snow began to blow.

When he finally reached his pickup, he felt a heavy heart.
From the sound of that ignition, he knew it wouldn't start.
So Jake did what most of us would do if we had been there.
He humbly bowed his balding head and sent aloft a prayer.

As he turned the key for the last time, he softly cursed his luck.
They found him three days later, frozen stiff in that old truck.
Now Jake had been around in life and done his share of roaming.
But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked -- it looked just like Wyoming!

Of all the saints in Heaven, his favorite was St. Peter.
(Now, this line ain't needed but it helps with rhyme and meter)
So they set and talked a minute or two, or maybe it was three.
Nobody was keeping' score -- in Heaven time is free.

"I've always heard," Jake said to Pete, "that God will answer prayer,
But, one time I asked for help, well, he just plain wasn't there."
"Does God answer prayers of some, and ignore the prayers of others?
That don't seem exactly square -- I know all men are brothers."

"Or does he randomly reply, without good rhyme or reason?
Maybe, it's the time of day, the weather or the season."
"Now I ain't trying to act smart, it's just the way I feel.
And I was wondering', could you tell me -- what the heck's the deal?!"

Peter listened very patiently and when Jake was done.
There were smiles of recognition, and he said, "So, you're the one!!"
"That day your truck, it wouldn't start, and you sent your prayer a flying,
You gave us all a real bad time, with hundreds of us trying."

"A thousand angels rushed, to check the status of your file,
But you know, Jake, we hadn't heard from you in quite a long while."
"And though all prayers are answered, and God ain't got no quota,
He didn't recognize your voice, and started a truck in Minnesota."

Anon.

BETTER KEEP IN TOUCH!

And now for the good news....

Well, it's not the gospel, but there is some good news among the headlines:

FOXNews.com - Views - Straight Talk - 2004: The Good News