Keep Pastor Youcef in Your Prayers

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been condemned to death in Iran for converting from Islam to Christianity. There is a lot of uncertainty concerning his fate. Several journalists have reported that he could be executed at any moment. Other journalists say that his sentence has been commuted. Pastor Youcef is married and has two children.

My feeling is Pastor Youcef has been caught up in geopolitical politics. No Christian has been executed in Iran for conversion. I think he’s being used by the Iranian government to put pressure on the USA. I believe that Pastor Youcef will stay alive as long as he is useful.

Please pray for Youcef Nadarkhani and his family.

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The Scale of the Universe

Move through God's creation from the smallest known object to the approximate size of the universe.

Rational Christianity

Ratio Christi (Latin for ‘The Reason of Christ’) is a global movement that equips university students and faculty to give historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for following Jesus Christ. Bringing together faith and reason in order to establish the intellectual voice of Christ in the University, Ratio Christi is placing Christian apologetics clubs at universities around the world. We unashamedly defend the veracity of God, the Bible, and Christ’s resurrection and engage in the battle for the mind.

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Amazing Grace on Irish Bagpipes

Amazing Grace performed on Uilleann Pipes, or Irish bagpipes. Bagpipes are found throughout Europe, however they are all different from the well known Scottish version. The wind that drives these pipes comes from a bag that is pumped by the man's arm. Enjoy.

Bake Sale on Saturday

Pray for Peace in Jerusalem

Jerusalem continues to be a place of fear and violence rather than peace. Christian tourists were attacked by Palestinian youths on the Temple Mount recently. Please pray for the people who live in the place where  Jesus walked.

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Letter from Asia Bibi

 
Asia Bibi is a Christian woman in Pakistan facing the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam. Christians around the world are trying to put pressure on the Pakistani government to release her. Here she writes about a bird who visits her in her prison cell.
 
There is a beautiful thing that happens every day in my cell. Two days after they announced my death penalty, I was brought into [death row]. Every morning around 3:30 or 4, a brown bird with a long beak appears and sits on the boundary wall. This bird also comes every evening around 5. He sits there for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening. Later on he became my friend. I talk to him and he also talks to me.
 
As I watched this bird every day, I tried to understand the meaning of him coming day after day. I think this is a messenger from God giving me His message. When the bird comes, I feel encouraged and peaceful. I feel comforted after his visit. I think this is a very significant sign from God.
 
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Amazing Grace on the Zither

Pray for the Temple Prostitutes of India

 
Prostitution is a serious problem in India, especially among the poor. But there is a branch of the profession hidden deeper underground with an even darker side to it.
 
Temple prostitution was banned in India 30 years ago, but that doesn't mean it has gone away, reports the International Mission Board. The practice, called devadasi, continues to exploit women who were thrown away as infants.
 
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Asian American Christian NBA Star; Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin’s sudden emergence as an N.B.A. star has thrilled fans at Madison Square Garden and on the road, generated a torrent of comments on social media around the world and made Knicks fans out of a lot of people who did not follow basketball a week ago. By Sunday, the story of Lin, a committed Christian, had worked its way into church services — notably those in New York with large numbers of Asian-American congregants.

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Free Coffee Anyone?

A couple of guys in Oklahoma are reaching out to the community with free coffee. They think they can minister to their neighbors by plying them with lot's of caffine. Read about their vision here.

Amazing Grace on Accordion

He starts out nice and quiet, then he gets crazy half way through. Still a real nice job on a wonderful song.

Creating Our Own Reality

 
“Reality, sometimes life ain't all that it's cracked up to be,
So let's take a chance and live this fantasy,
'Cause everybody needs to break free, from reality” Kenny Chesney

The pastor of the New Birth Church in Georgia, Eddie Long, has been accused of molesting several boys. He took a brief hiatus from the church and now has come back with a ritual that has many in the church world shaking their heads in confusion. In a service two weeks ago, a fake rabbi rapped a Torah scroll around Mr. Long and declared him a king. King of what, no one knows. Just like no one knows who the rabbi is, or what he was doing with the torah. But the audience sure liked it. If you are interested in more information I have included the following links; here, here, and here.
 
So, how can all of this happen? How can the disgraced minister of a huge church create a fake ceremony and have himself crowned as a fake king? Apparently it’s easy when you create your own reality. I’ve had this happen to me several times. I thought I knew what was happening around me, and what the people around me were thinking, and then I turned out to be completely wrong. It didn’t help that I had people whispering fantasies into my ear that I conveniently wanted to hear. I’ve also seen plenty of people around me create and wallow in fantasies of their own making. Creating an alternate reality is common and I think if we are discerning, we will admit that we all have done this at one time or another.
 
There is an interesting story in the Bible that shows the problems with creating alternate realities. Ananias and Sapphira sell a property and offer the money to God (Acts 5:1-11). However, they keep some of the money for themselves. Peter being inspired by the Holy Spirit accosts them with the truth and they fall down dead. The story seems to be focused on teaching believers to hold nothing back in their devotion to God. However, I would also point out that Ananias and Sapphira do something that is done all of the time. They make a promise, and then go back on it. The decision to go back on a promise is always justified. We know what we are doing is wrong, but we decide that we have a very good reason for doing it. Sometimes our scheme’s work and the reality we try to create comes to pass. At other times, our scheme’s fail, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.
 
If this problem is so common, how can we avoid it? As usual Jesus comes to the rescue. Let’s look at the story of the Samaritan woman in the 4^th chapter of John. The woman talks to Jesus about things that are real to her: hatred between Samaritan’s and Judean’s; water from the well; and the religious claims between Samaritan’s and Judean’s. Jesus keeps offering her his reality, the love of God for everyone and God’s gift of eternal life. The woman points out opposing realities; worship and God’s presence on Mt. Gerizim versus worship and God’s presence on Mr. Zion. Jesus says that God is spiritually present to everyone and worships with us in our hearts. To me, everything Jesus says and does in this story is an attempt to help a woman he just met. The reality Jesus creates is for the purpose of blessing the people who are standing right in front of him. Jesus is always focused on what is truly real; loving people.
 
Therefore our challenge is to create and live in the reality God has created for us. It is not a reality that is self focused. It is not a reality that includes self aggrandizement. Instead it is a reality that calls for love of others, and self sacrifice. That is the reality I hope to live in, and I hope you will too.
 
God bless you,
Pastor Bill

Pray for 60 NYC Homeless Churches

The world just gets less understandable. NYC has banned churches from renting public school buildings on the weekends. Many of the largest churches in the country have gotten their start in public school auditoriums. Why would a church service on Sunday threaten the constitutional separation of church and state? Who knows. Please pray for the 60 churches in NYC that are now homeless.

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And another account…

So Long Crystal Cathedral, Hello St Patrick’s Crystal Cathedral

I’ve always considered the Rev. Schuller to be a gambling man. In the 60’s he had a pretty good sized church, but it wasn’t enough. He decided to roll the dice in an attempt to win the big pot. His church went into debt and built the Crystal Cathedral, on the idea that if you build something totally magnificent, the people will come. He rolled lucky 7’s and won big. However, in the 90’s his church growth was stagnant, and he needed to do something big again. He should have retired and let a new generation move the church into the new century. Instead he rolled the dice again. His church went into debt, to the tune of 20 million dollars, and he built a Southern California Visitor/Cultural Center. His reasoning was the same as last time, if it is magnificent enough, the people will come. However, this time he rolled snake eyes.

This week the Diocese of Orange as officially taken over ownership of the Crystal Cathedral. The deal will pay off the debts of the church, but they are losing their home. In three years it will become a catholic cathedral. It will be interesting to see if Schuller’s church will survive the transition. The church has been run by a board of trustees for many years. The membership has been shut out of the decision making process. I would think that many long time members would demand that the board of trustees dissolve and hand over power to the membership. If not, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the members walk away from this debacle.

Most Mega-Churches are run by small groups of trustees, with a powerful minister pulling the strings. I feel that the story of the Crystal Cathedral is a lesson to large churches. The power of the leadership needs to be balanced by power placed into the hands of the membership. Too much power in the hands of a few can allow a church to spin out of control.

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Church in a Bar?

Would you attend church in a bar? Don’t laugh, a church is trying this in San Jose, California. In my humble opinion, Beer and Jesus don’t mix.

Churches, like businesses, are always trying to attract new faces. Some use tactics like providing coffee and sweets, or they boast a variety of different ministries for all age groups. Others have worship bands of rock star proportions and lots of digital technology to keep parishioners entertained. But a new church in San Jose, Calif., has a very different approach – it provides beer for attendees – after the service, of course.

Bill Jenkins, a native Londoner, calls his month-old church plant in northern California Urbanlife. They meet in downtown San Jose in a bar call the Loft Bar and Bistro at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. He told The Christian Post he wants to create “a safe environment for a dangerous message.”

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Church Website

Amazing Grace on Dulcimer by NC Hillbillies

Very funny and very talented, these two guys play a great Dulcimer.

God and the Proton Proton Chain

 
I am an avid gardener, and I create new plants all of the time. With some I divide the roots, the tubers, or the bulbs. With others I use cuttings in water to stimulate root growth. And some plants I try to grow with seed. You think using seeds would be easy, but they are the hardest way to create plants. You have to germinate them under the correct growing conditions for that particular plant. The temperature has to be right, the soil conditions have to be just so, the amount of water applied, etc… I have had more failures with seeds than successes. However, when a seed sprouts into a plant, the results are impressive. From a really small package comes a huge plant. Zinnias have been the most successful of my seed campaign. Zinnias can grow to over six feet in height! Not too shabby for a little seed planted in some dirt. I think this is a good metaphor for God’s work in the universe. From the smallest of things, God creates everything.
 
In the beginning of the universe, the only element that existed was hydrogen. In the brand new creation these single proton atoms clumped together to form clouds of hydrogen gas. The clouds created a gravity well that attracted more of the gas from the surrounding region. As more atoms were added, the center of the cloud saw its pressure increase, and as a result, the temperature increased as well. When the temperature became high enough (1 x 10⁷ K) two protons smashed into each other and fused to create deuterium while releasing an electron and a neutrino (p + p --> ²D + e⁺ + v). This was the start of a series of fusion and fission reactions that created everything we see around us. All that we are physically comes from the interiors of stars, like our sun. And it all starts on a very small level, the Proton-Proton chain.
 
Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds and yet, grows into an enormous plant (Matt 13:31-35). The Kingdom includes all of the faithful, but the Kingdom also describes what is within us. Our faith in God starts out small but can grow into universal proportions. Isn’t that what is meant when Jesus says; “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). With our God given faith we can reach for the stars. And it all starts from a very small beginning, saying yes to a relationship with our heavenly father.
 
Seeds sprouting, proton smashing and faith growing; in a strange way it all makes sense. God has created an amazing universe for us to live in. The wonders of it continue to amaze. I hope you will enjoy studying how God makes it all work as I do. If you wish to learn more, you can contact me and I will try my best to explain how stars work. Or, you can read the book I am reading; Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolution by Dina Prialnik, Cambridge University Press. Not an easy read but worth the effort.
 
Peace,
 
Pastor Bill

A Pro Lifer Calls for Compassion for Women

 
A woman is standing in the bathroom, staring at the white wand in her shaking hand. Her disbelief gives way to anger, then despair. She has five children. She can't afford childcare—she'll have to quit her job. Her house is too small for another child. Her family's business is under threat, and her husband will be traveling more than ever. She's just come through another unplanned pregnancy. She is well past 40. How can she be pregnant at this age when using birth control? How can she go through another pregnancy, another birth? How can she raise another child?
 
Then a thought comes: This could all just go away. No one would know. She feels a lift. There is a way out.
 
That woman, of course, was me. Never did I imagine I would consider abortion, even for a few seconds.
 
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Pray for the Women who are facing such difficult decisions today. Peace.