“The letter kills but the Spirit gives
life.” (II Corinthians
3:6). This is the battle of the ages, which battle continues to rage--to
be led by the Spirit or to follow religious forms. It has been said that
there is no hatred like religious hatred and more blood has been shed in the
name of religion than in any cause. In these cases a knowledge of
scripture becomes not an asset but a liability causing people to ignore in
their hearts what the Spirit would teach them as they observe religious dogma.
Is This the End of the Arab Spring?
A Future Worse Than
Mubarak's Reign
It would be perverse if the January 2011 revolution paved the way
for something worse than what it sought to replace. But that is where Egypt is
headed. Under the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood was
repressed, but the repression was never total. The Brotherhood, as the
country’s largest opposition force, was allowed room to operate, to contest
elections, and to have seats in parliament. Mubarak may have been a dictator,
but he was no radical.
It no longer makes much sense to say that Egypt is in the midst of
a democratic transition.
The current military government. . .
February 10, 2011 (Noah, my grandson,two years) I wrote:
Noah was adorable --he never ceases to amaze me.
In the morning he kept reminding me of "the
Ladies' Tea, the Ladies' Tea".
He woke up from his nap singing:
"This little light of mine,
I'm going to let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel 'No!"
I'm going to let it shine. .
(another verse) .Let it shine till Jesus comes, I'm going to let
it shine."
He said the "No!" very loud. In
fact, that was the first thing I heard until I realized he was singing a
song. I just heard these loud Nos.
We went by subway. "How many
stops till the Ladies'Tea?" As I turned the stroller into the church
he said, "We're at the Ladies' Tea."
Saying "hello" to Linda and the
ladies, he was jumping up and down--so happy to be there.
As we sat around the table, the conversation was
on Egypt. Noah,sitting on my lap, in the middle of putting
blueberries in his mouth,announced, "There was a BIG STORM and Jesus made it stop."
Everyone stopped mid-sentence and stared at
Noah in amazement. What was this toddler saying?
Finally, one lady said, "Well, he
knows the Bible." Noah kept putting blueberries in his mouth as he
sat there on my lap--seemingly unaware that he had given the answer to
everything. I was amazed that he had said something so
appropriate--at church talking about the crisis (storm) in Egypt, to
remember that Jesus said, "Peace be still" to the storm.
Noah is very perspective in hearing and
seeing what is around him. For example, hearing a siren outside as we sat
there--which the ladies and I remarked we would have missed--Noah said,
"Fire truck!" One lady said, "They like fire trucks.
They notice fire trucks."
When we were leaving, Noah said, "I
want to hear the music." He remembered other times on Sunday,
there was music . He loves music and I hope he will always hear and love
good music. Music transcends the worlds.
He was a very good boy and the ladies were
enchanted with him.
I am fascinated to watch him play
with his toys. He definitely can entertain himself. Often I sit and
watch him and interact with him only if he wants to. He isn't bored.
August 2013--2 l/2 years later
Egypt. The killing, the massacre, the
violence. Someone said on the news, "We don't know who the good guys
are. We don't know how to help." I feel great sadness
remembering the young people--how they had cheered and danced in the streets!
And now it has come to this unspeakable horror! Their hopes dashed.
And it was better with a dictator before all of this Arab spring?
Clearly, there is no human answer.
It is obviously beyond the wisdom of flesh and blood.
But there is Someone who knows what to do--The
Prince of Peace. We need to do "The One Thing that is needful"
and be like Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus. He knows The Plan.
We must listen so that we may be hands, and feet and voice and arms for
God--that the
Word become flesh in us--as it was in
Jesus, the Pattern Son.
We are told, "Pray for the Peace in
Jerusalem." When there is peace in this cradle of the world,
there will be peace everywhere. (Did you ever notice that right in the
middle of "Jerusalem" is the USA?)
We speak. God listens. God speaks.
We listen. Part of prayer is listening. LIstening for The Voice.
Martin Buber said, "The Voice speaks to us in the guise of
everything that happens."
A Siren. "Set up a standard in the
land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations. . ." Jeremiah
51:27
A firetruck. Fire. As it has been
said, "We need fire in our belly." Do we empathize? Or
have we become as robots, computers, we have no feeling? What must it be
to be a mother, a father and have a two year old--or any child for that
matter--or a son, a brother, a husband, a sister, a mother, a wife and see them
slaughtered before you?
And how long has this been going on? A few
nights ago I saw 4 journalists on C-Span telling how they were prohibited from
taking the gruesome pictures of the war. Don't send that back for people
to see. The words of Mr. Van Dane in The Diary of Anne Frank come to mind, "You don't know what is happening out
there. Chlldren come home from school to find their parents gone.
Everyday. . ."
Yes. Everyday. 9/11 everyday for
some people. But what can we do? We stand here helpless. If
we move to the right, it's wrong. If to the left, it's wrong.
"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound. .
."
Fire. We need fire. The fire of the
Holy Spirit! I think of that marvelous story--one of my favorite--"Fear
not, for there are more with us than with them. Lord, open his eyes,
" the prophet Elisha prayed. And the mountains were filled with the
Invisible Host and chariots of fire all around Elisha." (
Richard Strean of World Vision prayed,
"Lord, break my heart with the things that break your heart."
Children have no clean water and they die-- no
water. And little girls as young as 5 are sold for sex trafficing--her
family can't feed her.
Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet.
Very few listened to him. In fact, they not only didn't listen,
they presecuted him putting him in prison and in the dungeon for giving out the
Word of God.
He said, "Then I said, I will not make mention of HIm, nor speak any
more in His name. But His Word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my
bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay." Jeremiah 20:9
No matter what happened to him, because of the
fire in his bones, he had to speak. He couldn't hold it in any longer.
I determine. I'm going to speak what God
tells me to speak. If people get mad, they'll just have to get mad. I
leave it to God to take care of them.
"If anyone speak, let her speak as the
oracles of God. . ."
"I have put My words in your mouth and
covered you with My hand. . ."
My life's verse: "Let love be your
aim. Desire spiritual gifts, especially that you might prophesy." ("I will show you things to come.
. . " However, "to prophesy"
is not just to speak some
future event, but to encourage, exhort, comfort, by a mouthpiece for God.
Back to Egypt. What shall we do?
What shall we do for ourselves that "it may be well with us and
our children"?
First of all. Where is security? In
guns? In policemen? In scanners? In bombs? In war?
"For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalites and powers of darkness and spiritual
wickedness in high places."
"For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal (guns, bombs, knives,
etc) but are mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds."
Where is security? Security is in the
Secret Place. "She who dwells in the Secret Place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1.
That's God's 911 number. Memorize the whole Psalm. "Surely
He shall deliver thee. . .She shall cover thee with Her feathers (God is both our Father and our Mother) Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror. . .He
shall give his angels charge over thee."
How to memorize. For little children who
can't read--my children knew chapters before they were 3 years old--it takes
very little time and is so easy--for you and for them. Read the passage
over everyday out loud. At the end of 10 days, leave out words. If
you are doing Psalm 23: "The Lord is my. . ." The
child will be so excited to say, "Shepherd!"
For you, after 10 days, close your Bible and
stumble through it the best you can. Then open and read again and the
places you miss will stand out. At the end of a month, it will be in your
heart. This method is better than trying to do it all at once since your
sub-conscious mind will work on it -2
Many give testimony that Psalm 91 saved their
lives. It's a word to stand on.
Ex.
A lady--feathers
Ex.
Norman Williams
(1) If you are a Christian and you are
advocating for guns as your security, shame on you! I rebuke you in the
name of Jesus. That's where you think your security is? Stand your
ground? Yes. Here's how you stand your ground.
"Having done all to stand, stand therefore—
Ephesians 6:10-20
(2) Immigration. If you claim to be
a follower of The Prince of Peace--if you say you are a follower of Jesus and
you are out there advocating for shipping them out, higher fences, detention,
no reform etc. shame on you!
"I was hungry. . .thirsty. . .naked. . .a stranger. . .sick.
. .in prison. . ." "I was a stranger and you took me in. .
." "You have the heart of a stranger.
Granted all the details of reform may not be
clear but somewhat convoluted, but one thing for sure, It should be a policy of
compassion. Again, God can show what to do and work out the details.
But, first of all, one needs to have a right spirit and attitude.
Not selfishness.
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
this. To visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction. . .” James 1: 27
All through the Bible, it seems that God has a broken record--over
and over--how you treat the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, the poor.
As Jesus said, the whole Bible can be summed up with one
word:Love. As Henry Drummond (1851-1897) said in his classic book, The Greatest Thing in the World,
"It's not going to be so much what did you believe, but how did you
love." (Matthew 25)
What would Jesus do? That's a familiar question.
(3) Our prisons
The prison situation in our country is deplorable. Prisons
are big business. Makes jobs for people. We incarcerate more people than
any other civilized country. What if we believed in redemption?
And then when they are out of prison, what is provided? Les Miserable.
"Will the future ever come?" asked Victor Hugo.
Millions has seen the broadway musical and the movie and yet our prison
system--Les Miserable. Guantanamo Bay--deplorable. You
may not know the truth--so much propaganda--but I do. I sought out the
matter. I'll attach my findings. The methods we have been using
make more terrorists--in fact, recruit them. We have less enemies today,
do we? I think not.
Noah, "I want to hear the music."
Yes, little Noah. The music. We must hear the music.
Bring back the music. 500 times we are told in the Bible to “Praise the Lord”. "The
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds."
"Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and
into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name for
the Lord is good."
What kind of weapons do we have? Praise,
faith, love, joy, peace, mercy, grace, redemtion, food, clothing, shelter.
Read the story mentioned above and see the demonstration of "if your enemy hunger, feed him. . ."
This, my friends, is the Kingdom of God--the
Kingdom of Love, Joy, Peace--the Kingdom of which the angels sang, "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace."
Jesus has provided everything. "It is
finished," he said on the cross. No more death penalty. He
paid it--the death penalty in full. There's nothing else Jesus needs to
do. But there's something else we need to do. We need to be
co-creators with our Creator--to be hands, voice, feet and arms for God.
After a disaster, someone raised their hands to heaven and said to God,
"How could you let this happen?" And God looked down and said,
"How could you let this happen." As Jesus was one with the
Father, we are to be one with God, our Redeemer. We aren't just supposed
to read the headlines, or predict the headlines, we are to create the headlines
by the Holy Spirit within us. S
