the gate

After the attacks in Mumbai, Islamic terrorism is on the front page yet again. I found this eye-opening article, and decided to post it here. Notice the tactics used based on the percentage of Muslims. Remember, Muslims (the people) are not the enemy — radical Islam (the system) is. Sharia is the Muslim law governing all aspects of life. In Islam, there is no separation between the secular and the sacred. Worldwide Sharia is the goal of Jihad.

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What Islam Isn’t
By Dr. Peter Hammond
FrontPageMagazine.com | 4/21/2008
The following is adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book,
Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat

Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system.

Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components.

Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called ‘religious rights.’

When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to ‘the reasonable’ Muslim demands for their ‘religious rights,’ they also get the other components under the table. Here’s how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007)).

As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:

United States — Muslim 1.0%
Australia — Muslim 1.5%
Canada — Muslim 1.9%
China — Muslim 1%-2%
Italy — Muslim 1.5%
Norway — Muslim 1.8%

At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:

Denmark — Muslim 2%
Germany — Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom — Muslim 2.7%
Spain — Muslim 4%
Thailand — Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population.

They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. (United States).

France — Muslim 8%
Philippines — Muslim 5%
Sweden — Muslim 5%
Switzerland — Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands — Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad &Tobago — Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world.

When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions ( Paris — car-burnings). Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats ( Amsterdam - Mohammed cartoons).

Guyana — Muslim 10%
India — Muslim 13.4%
Israel — Muslim 16%
Kenya — Muslim 10%
Russia — Muslim 10-15%

After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:

Ethiopia — Muslim 32.8%

At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:

Bosnia — Muslim 40%
Chad — Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon — Muslim 59.7%

From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:

Albania — Muslim 70%
Malaysia — Muslim 60.4%
Qatar — Muslim 77.5%
Sudan — Muslim 70%

After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:

Bangladesh — Muslim 83%
Egypt — Muslim 90%
Gaza — Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia — Muslim 86.1%
Iran — Muslim 98%
Iraq — Muslim 97%
Jordan — Muslim 92%
Morocco — Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan — Muslim 97%
Palestine — Muslim 99%
Syria — Muslim 90%
Tajikistan — Muslim 90%
Turkey — Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace — there’s supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim:

Afghanistan — Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%
Somalia — Muslim 100%
Yemen — Muslim 99.9%

Of course, that’s not the case. To satisfy their blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons.

“Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world and all of us against the infidel.” – Leon Uris, The Haj

It is good to remember that in many, many countries, such as France, the Muslim populations are centered around ghettos based on their ethnicity. Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. Therefore, they exercise more power than their national average would indicate.

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On Sunday, Nov. 16, I talked about praying for the persecuted church. Of course one of the places I drew attention to was Iran, ranked third in terms of places Christians are persecuted most. But God is moving there powerfully in spite of the persecution.

Last week, I was listening to Hormoz Shariat, of International Antioch Ministries, talk about evangelism in Iran. He has trained many believers there how to do evangelism, especially how to deal with objections and difficult questions. But he said one of these believers told him recently that they don’t use his methods any more. When he asked why, this Iranian believer said, “We don’t need to. All we do is stand up where there is a crowd of people and announce ‘I am a Christian,’ and sit down, and a number of people will come and ask how they can be a Christian.”

What would happen in the United States if you stood up at a Starbucks® and said, “I am a Christian,” and then sat down?

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last week i had a discussion with some people regarding whether or not it is worth it to have children.  while my answer was yes, i proceeded to give my view on how you must walk into that with open eyes and realistic expectations.  if you over glamorize the idea of having children, you may be gravely disappointed.

i wish i would have had this saturday as an example.

7 am - running children and wood floors = wake up!!!!
10am - family portraits.
12pm - drove home from whittier to pick up my new blackberry storm, only to find out that RIM dropped the ball and i wasn’t getting it yet.
3pm - newphew’s birthday party.  sugar (aka child crack) induced hysteria.  it’s a little stressful following a 2.5 year old kid around to make sure he doesn’t jump in the pool while no one is looking.  especially when you’re trying to watch Oklahoma destroy Texas Tech!
11pm - bed time.  woo hoo!!
11:30pm - G starts Vomit Fest 2008.
my day ended at a mind numbing 6:30am the next morning.  i was awake with G all night as he vomited over and over and over, to the point where he was dry heaving in his sleep.  it was awful.  i did three loads of laundry and made several trips out into the cold to throw away the remnants of the birthday party food that he had so graciously deposited onto his pillow and sheets.

as i held my breath, i tried my best to pick out the warm chunks of food from his blankets.  yes, i said warm.

then i sat in a rocking chair hoping to get some sleep but instead quickly moved to a state of mild fear and concern as he was puking every 15 minutes or so. 

so what did i do?  the same thing, over and over, sandwiching his vomiting with my heavy doses of prayer that God would heal his sickness and help him sleep.

why do i share this story?  because as i was praying for him, i did think a alot about how patient and loving our heavenly Father is.  He would do it for us.  He would clean up our puke, change our clothes, sit in a busted chair and not sleep if He needed to.

even more than that, i thought about Him holding back someone’s hair while they heave into the porcelain god after a long night of drinking.  my first reaction was to think “where did that come from? that can’t be right to think about”.  but the more i thought of it, the more i realized that God is loving, gracious and comforting even when we choose to indulge ourselves in sin until we vomit.

the entire story of the Bible, as well as our own personal stories, reads like my saturday night.  a loving and patient Father cleans up our vomit (self induced or virus induced) and prays for us.

so what if the question was posed to God, is having children worth it.  i think He’d say yes.

what a wonderful daddy we have.

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I read this and thought I should post it. His words are much needed in our time. Enjoy :)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Protestant pastor, was one of Germany’s leading scholars of the twentieth century. He courageously returned from Union Seminary in New York to oppose Adolf Hitler. His great desire was for Christians to follow Christ whatever the cost. It was a cost he knew only too well: he was arrested, imprisoned, and executed (just days before the end of the Second World War) for his opposition to the Nazi regime. In his most famous work, The Cost of Discipleship (1937), he urged Christians to throw off everything that hindered their wholehearted allegiance to Christ, including the accumulation of wealth.

Jesus does not forbid the possession of property in itself. He was man, he ate and drank like his disciples, and thereby sanctified the good things of life. These necessities, which are consumed in use and which meet the legitimate requirements of the body, are to be used by the disciple with thankfulness . . . Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected. In the wilderness God gave Israel the manna every day, and they had no need to worry about food and drink. Indeed, if they kept any of the manna over until the next day, it went bad. In the same way, the disciple must receive his portion from God every day. If he stores it up as a permanent possession, he spoils not only the gift but himself as well, for he sets his heart on accumulated wealth, and makes it a barrier between himself and God. Where our treasure is, there is our trust, our security, our consolation and our God. Hoarding is idolatry.¹

Of course, manna is not the only pertinent biblical analogy. Proverbs 6:6-8 counsels the sluggard to imitate the ant, which “stores its provisions in summer.” And Genesis 41:46-57 presents Joseph as the model of prudence in storing grain for the lean years. Here Bonhoeffer goes on to draw the line between legitimate and illegitimate accumulation.

Our treasure may of course be small and inconspicuous, but its size is immaterial; it all depends on the heart, on ourselves. And if we ask how we are to know where our hearts are, the answer is just as simple—everything which hinders us from loving God above all things and acts as a barrier between ourselves and our obedience to Jesus is our treasure, and the place where our heart is . . .

If our hearts are entirely given to God, it is clear that we cannot serve two masters; it is simply impossible—at any rate all the time we are following Christ. It would of course be tempting to show how far we had advanced in the Christian life by endeavouring to serve two masters and giving each his due, both God and Mammon. Why should we not be happy children of the world just because we are the children of God? After all, do we not rejoice in his good gifts, and do we not receive our treasures as a blessing from him? No, God and the world, God and its goods are incompatible, because the world and its goods make a bid for our hearts, and only when they have won them do they become what they really are. That is how they thrive, and that is why they are incompatible with allegiance to God. Our hearts have room only for one all-embracing devotion, and we can only cleave to one Lord. Every competitor to that devotion must be hated. As Jesus says, there is no alternative—either we love God or we hate him.²

Footnotes:

1	Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1959), 155-156.
2	Ibid., 156-157.

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6,000,000 Jews were killed in Hitler’s holocaust.

Over 45,000,000 American babies have been killed
since Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973).

I don’t think I will live to see Roe overturned here in America. That means I don’t believe this battle will be won by politicians who profess to be pro-life. It’s been almost 36 years since Roe v. Wade, and we are no closer to overturning it today than we were 10 or 20 years ago. Moreover, now that we have the most pro-abortion president in our history, the political battle has likely been set back at least two decades.

We have invested too much time and energy fighting this battle on the wrong front—the political arena. (The real battle is the conscience of our nation.) All Americans must hear and see the truth. You can help by making sure your family, friends, and coworkers know the truth.

Do you know what abortion is—I mean, do you really know? The video below shows you (click one of the blue links). I can’t watch it without crying. I pray to God I never get to the point where I can watch it without crying. It is disturbing. But I think we need to be disturbed. It is graphic, and I would not show it to pre-teens. But if you are an adult, you should watch it.

If you watch the video, please tell us. Just leave a comment below and say, I watched the video and I will pray that God will change America and show me what I can do to help.

Quicktime: High (16 MB) / Medium (6 MB) / Low (2 MB)

Windows Media: High (5 MB) / Medium (3 MB) / Low (2 MB)

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i received this email from a good friend and brother in indonesia.  don’t be intimidated by the length, it’s an easy read.  read the whole thing, you won’t regret it.  it’s slightly edited to remove his identity.

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“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”   - II Corinthians 3:18
 
 
Wow!  There has been so much talk of change lately.  As the entire world watched enviously, Americans were recently told, “Yes we can!  Yes, we can change!”  Both political parties had promised change.  Now, regardless of which presidential candidate one voted for, we are all waiting to see what change the next four years will actually hold. 
 
I wonder though, What if all the promises of change that politicians make were to be fulfilled?  What then?  Would this world really be so different than it is today?  All this talk of change reminds me of a young Macedonian king who stormed across Asia in the fourth century B.C..  With 30,000 warriors, Alexander blazed a trail of victorious battles from Asia Minor to North Africa and beyond the Khyber Pass onto the plains of India.  Before he died at the age of 32, Alexander had expanded his realm of influence to an unprecedented breadth.  Remnants of his culture and language remained long after his death, continuing to hold their influence even to this day. 
 
Through the centuries Alexander has been remembered as The Great, yet by at least one measure his legacy turned out to be greatly exaggerated.  Following his death, his kingdom was torn apart more rapidly than the amount of time it took him to establish it.  In other words, he gave the world a culture and language but no kingdom.  He was the ancient equivalent of an entrepreneur who builds a business empire that disintegrates in the months following his own retirement.  Or, we might compare Alexander to a gifted communicator whose congregation scatters to the wind soon after he leaves for another post. 
 
The secret to Alexander’s explosive success and the reason for the evaporation of his kingdom are one and the same.  He had no interest in conquering the soul.  His kingdom was skin deep.  His name was known and revered across the earth, yet souls were untouched.  For Alexander, this was an intentional decision.  He prided himself on leaving his subjects alone to cling to their own idols and keep their private little kingdoms intact.  He demanded almost no taxes from his conquered subjects, once even saying, “I hate the gardener who cuts to the root the vegetables of which he ought to cull the leaves.” 
 
In other words, Alexander anticipated reaping a harvest without paying much attention to the roots.
 
Another king was born about three centuries after Alexander’s megastar legacy was enshrined across Greek speaking Asia.  As a small child, Jesus may have even scampered through the alleys of Alexandria, the great Mediterranean coastal city Alexander had marked out and ordered built on the north coast of Egypt.  This was the second largest city on earth at the time, and home to the greatest population of Jews outside of Palestine.  Whether Jesus ever stepped foot in Alexandria or not, he lived his entire 33 years in the windblown ashes of Alexander’s conquests. 
 
As he grew up, Jesus must have pondered the emergence of his own kingdom.  He too, would lead warriors over deserts, mountain passes and onto distant shores.  But his realm would be so much deeper.  He had no intention of forming a paper thin kingdom that would breeze across nations only to shrivel up and evaporate, leaving a somewhat hollow shroud of rituals, religious verbiage and Tuesday night bingo tournaments. 
 
Jesus was a radical.  The word radical is defined as “arising from, or going to the root, or source.”  Ah, the audacity of Jesus!  His kingdom would be pervasive.  Beginning with the soul, he would then conquer hearts, minds, bodies, passions and possessions.  His kingdom would indeed cut to the roots, setting humanity free, permeating and ruling over all of the cosmos.  Jesus was no doubt aware of Alexander’s words about the zealous gardener when he said, “I am the true vine and my Father is the Gardener.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit … He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  Speaking for the Gardener that Alexander had claimed to disdain, Jesus then boldly proclaimed that any tumbleweed who does not abide in him would wither up and be hurled into a fire.
 
I am reminded of my good friend Rasinus, who was born in the remote Indonesian village of <removed by author>.  When Rasinus was eight years old, his father died.  His mother had little money and could no longer afford to raise her children.  Following the funeral, Rasinus, his three younger sisters and baby brother were taken away to live with different families.  Rasinus’ childhood became a cauldron of painful memories, rejection, loneliness and hopelessness.  He spent some time at a local orphanage, then it suddenly closed.  He ended up sleeping on the streets, surviving with the occasional help of a motorcycle mechanic.  A lost soul, Rasinus began to get involved in gangs and selling drugs.  At this point in Rasinus’ life, all the words, rhetoric, maneuvering, welfare programs, conservatism, liberalism, promises and political philosophies on earth had no chance of ever helping him. 
 
Just like all of us, Rasinus desperately needed something much deeper. 
 
In this moment of desperation, Rasinus was invited to stay in one of <removed by author - their organization> children’s homes.  There he encountered even more than a place to sleep, safety, schooling, and three meals a day.  He encountered the living God.  Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  From the inside out, Rasinus began to experience transformation.  As a teenager, he was filled to overflowing with the fruits of the Spirit.  Reborn, his life was awakened, activated and unleashed.  Rasinus began to dream of a future serving others, of winning souls, and of advancing God’s kingdom.  Today, Rasinus is in his last semester towards completing his Master’s degree in Theology.  Now working as a <removed by author - their organization> missionary teacher, he has returned back to his own village, the original location where his mother still lives.  There, where there is no school, he is in the process of building a new Christian school. 
 
Rebirth.  Life.  Transformation.  Redemption.  Awakening.  Hope …   and yes, change.
 
“Yes, he can!  Yes, HE can change the world!”  When seen in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how these words sizzle and leap in our hearts!  They represent what we are so passionate about.  They drive us to our knees, burn in our hearts and motivate us to persevere. 
 
“God, continue to work in and through the movement of Mustard Seed missions in India, Africa and Southeast Asia.  Bring hope and transformation into the lives of children and teenagers, setting them free to rise up and honor you with redeemed souls and transformed lives.”    

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I read this passage the other day and was discussing it with a friend. I thought I needed to share it with you. Its from the opening page of the book “Christless Christianity.”

What would it look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over a half century ago, Prysbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculatied that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday … where Christ is not preached.

Wow. Think about that for a while.

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The first Christians turned the world upside down by doing one thing — proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus alone conquered the power of the Roman Empire, and changed sinners into saints. We need to be people who are all about one thing! There is only one thing that will change ourselves, change others, and change our society.

You may have heard the story
of the Mennonite Brethren movement. One particular analysis goes like this: the first generation believed and proclaimed the gospel and thought that there were certain social entailments [i.e., helping the poor, opposing abortion, and such things]. The next generation assumed the gospel and advocated the entailments. The third generation denied the gospel and all that were left were the entailments. [D. A. Carson]

Many of those who speak easily and fluently of redeeming the culture soon focus all their energy shaping fiscal and political policies and the like, and merely assume the gospel. A gospel that is merely assumed, that does no more than perk away in the background while the focus of our attention is on the “redemption” of the culture in which we find ourselves, is lost within a generation or two. [D. A. Carson]

I have always wondered why any homosexual would listen to us the way we talk about AIDS as the judgment of God. I have often reflected that it is a good thing that God does not hand out judgments for gossip and slander and greed and self-centeredness and self-righteousness or many of our evangelical churches would be empty . . . Others who practice immoral lifestyles—people with whom we may not agree—will not give us a hearing at the end of the twentieth century. Not because we have preached the gospel and called them to repentance and they don’t like that, but because we have framed our communication with them in terms of a war for social, political, and cultural control. Contrary to the religious leaders of his day, Jesus was the friend of sinners. Prostitutes turned from their prostitution because, as Jesus said, “He who is forgiven much loves much.” The Holy Spirit will not convert a single soul through moral crusades. He will not convert a prostitute through Senate bill 242, or change the direction of the homosexual by prime-time denunciation from moralistic preachers. We are called to preach the good news and to call men and women to repentance, but that is not a political issue, that is not ultimately a moral issue, that is a gospel issue. [Michael Horton]

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do you know how big a cubit is?  or how about a kor, or even a bu?

me neither.  at least not until last night.  i have read those words many times, at least the word cubit.  however, i don’t think i’ve ever really thought about what that translates to in our very narrow thinking american system of measurements (for the record, 1cubit = 18 inches).  so during our young adult bible study, we read about the building of the temple by king solomon in 1 Kings 5-6.  it is pretty detailed, and the drawings of the temple and the cherubim that towered over the ark of the covenant in our study Bibles actually helped a lot.

the temple was incredibly ornate, filled with cedar and gold lined walls and items, masterfully crafted stonework and the blood and sweat of 180,000+ israelites over the 7 years that it took to build.  it was a home worthy of the ark of the covenant, and ultimately, God Himself.

now, read on to chapter 7 for the description of solomon’s pad.  it was WAY bigger, took twice as long to build, and let’s not even get into the furnishings and details in that place.  it was, dare i say, even more amazing than the house of the Lord.  :(

do you see a strange yet completely predictable irony here?  the cheesy christian analogies are endless.  but the bottom line is this: solomon was feeding his ego.  he built God what He needed, but he built himself what he wanted.

this is very typical behavior, both for the patriarchs and kings as well as all of us.  we invest so little into God and so much into ourselves.  we have to ask ourselves if we are investing into the right things in this life, into His Kingdom or into our own.  are you prepared to admit with me that our houses are much larger than that of the Lord?

matthew 6: 19-21  “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “

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The sun came up! My Father was waiting for me, and his Great Commission mandate is still in effect.

Enough said?

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