#582 (7/17) Christians and the Zimmerman Trial Aftermath

REMINDER: Check out this week's "Truth That Transforms" broadcast at www.truthinaction.org). This week’s program is Part 2 of a special program entitled “One Nation Under God” that looks at the Christian roots of America. Incredible program;  Don’t miss it

URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:

PRAISE!: 'Virginia's Busiest Abortion Clinic Shuts Down,' - CBNNews.com, July 16, 2013  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2013/July/Virginias-Busiest-Abortion-Clinic-Shuts-Down/ - "In another win for pro-lifers, Virginia's busiest abortion clinic is closing. Stricter state and city abortion regulations put into place this year forced the Northern Virginia Women's Healthcare of Fairfax County to shut its doors. Open since 2006, the clinic performed more abortions than any other clinic in the state. NOVA is one of many clinics affected by new abortion guidelines sweeping across the country.NOVA's closing makes it one of 30 clinics to close this year - more than double from last year." [NOTE: As I pray daily about the American Holocaust of abortion, I've started to pray specifically that God would finally close these killing centers - as well as bring the abortionists and their supporters to repentance in Jesus. May God bless us with more good news like this! - Stan]

ATTENTION: TODAY is the 9th day of the 30 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (see link below for resource material you can download.) Please join me in focusing your prayers EVERY DAY for these over one billion people who need to hear the gospel of Jesus.[NOTE: 1) You can download a  page of helpful basic information about Islam and Ramadan at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/downloads/pdf-downloads/Islam_reference_guide-1.pdf ; and 2) The following is from a 30-day prayer guide you can download at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/downloads/pdf-downloads/2013-ramadan-prayer-calendar-1.pdf (The following is from that prayer guide.)July 17 – 9^th Day of Muslim Month of Ramadan - DELIVERER (Iraq) “…and in this way all Israel will be saved… ‘The deliverer will come from Zion.’” (Romans 11:26) After years of Saddam Hussein’s cruelty, wars and sectarian violence, almost every individual in Iraq is traumatized in some way. The impact of this on the population is disastrous; for Christians, it’s even worse. Violence by extremists has forced many to leave. Since the 1990s, more than half of the Christian population has either left the country or been displaced. Pray today for Iraqi Christian children who have grown up surrounded by violence. Pray that Jesus will Deliver them from pain and fill them with His peace

"Egypt Facing Civil War? "Some Fear Civil War As Violence Spreads In Egypt," http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/Prayerwatch?pw=1605 -- PRAY for the nation of Egypt, as it faces a crucial  moment, that the recent events would result in its becoming a true democracy and NOT an Islamic state. PRAY esp. that the peoples' freedoms, in particular the religious freedom of its minorities (specifically its oppressed Christians) would be protected.PRAY also: 1) For peace and stability in Egypt after the government overthrow, 2) That the U.S. will effectively reach out to the new government, and 3) For safety for Americans living in Egypt

"Angry Islamists Turn Wrath on Egypt's Christians,"  By George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/July/Angry-Islamists-Turn-Wrath-on-Egypts-Christians/  Friday, July 12, 201 - "Egyptian Christians are facing growing retaliation by angry Islamists for opposing ousted President Moham3med Morsi. His supporters say Christian leaders were behind his removal from office....On Thursday, the body of a Christian merchant was found decapitated in a cemetery. Last Saturday, a Coptic Christian priest was shot by gunmen in an outdoor market. Also, days after the military coup that removed Morsi from office, Muslim extremists in southern Egypt burned dozens of Christian homes and stabbed four believers to death. "It's part of the Brotherhood's mobilization that they are targeting Christians, that they are renouncing them as behind this. If the Brotherhood is able to portray what happened as a Christian-dominated or Christian-driven protest, then they get to gain massive support in the streets," Tadros explained.

American Pastor Saeed Held Prisoner in Iran - June 5th Update - "Saeed's Wife Uses UN Speech to 'Plant Gospel'," by George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter, June 05, 2013, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/June/Saeeds-Wife-Uses-UN-Speech-to-Plant-Gospel/?cpid=EU_CBNNEWSPM_2013_156"Prayers from Prison: American Pastor Held in Iran Releases Letter," May 22, 2013; http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/Prayerwatch?pw=1458"...Abedini has been held at the brutal prison for 238 days, enduring long stints in solitary confinement, and, according to his supporters, beatings and torture at the hands of his jailers and fellow inmates. For months, he has been suffering from serious injuries, including internal bleeding from beatings with no proper medical attention, according to his family and attorneys."(Sources: Fox News, Assemblies of God website) Please PRAY:1) For the imprisoned Pastor Abedini, and for those Iranians who tend to his needs in prison to treat him more humanely. 2) For his family in Boise, Idaho. and their efforts to involve the U.S. State Department in securing Pastor Abedini’s release. And 3) For the impact of his witness upon believers and non-believers, in America and across the world. And if you have not yet, join the over 600,000 worldwide who have signed the petition asking for his release at www.SaveSaeed.org

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"An Ecumenical Hope Post Zimmerman Trial." - by: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  July 15th, 2013 http://www.redstate.com/2013/07/15/an-ecumenical-hope-post-zimmerman-trial/ [NOTE - Here is an  interesting perspective on the turmoil that has resulted from the end of the trial of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin. It's one for Christians in particular should consider that I have yet heard expressed. Most insightful! - Stan][

The death of Trayvon Martin and the Zimmerman trial show there are deep wounds and grievances in this country and too many people who profit from fanning the flames. Too many in the white community see violence in the black community and think, “That’s their problem. Blacks killing blacks, we’ll let them figure it out.” But it is not their problem. It is all of our problem. No one wants to be a victim of crime. Besides, much of the crime is not related to race, but related truly to income and only superficially related to skin color. This is a problem that will continue to fester unless there is more dialogue. White and black America more and more speak in different language and, more and more, upper income white America speaks in a language completely different from the poor and middle class regardless of race.

From my vantage point, the best dialogue to transcend the divide is that of the saving Gospel that heals all wounds. Much of the societal decay we have now stems from decades of government trying and failing to feed the body with liberals trying and failing to feed the soul. There is, however, only one lasting food the soul can truly digest and only God can provide it. We will continue to have these problems unless evangelical, Bible believing churches, start building lasting relationships across racial lines in their own communities. There won’t be uniform doctrine, but there is one Jesus who churches can share — the Jesus who is, not the Jesus some create.

Want to see evangelical, Bible believers together at a rally regardless of race? Go to a pro-life rally. More and more white pastors have convinced their black brethren that abortion is a blight on the black community. They are right. The number of abortions in the black community is astronomical.

Sadly, when black preachers rally against violence in their own community, too often the rallies consist of just the black preachers and a few white preachers sprinkled about. All too typically, these white preachers are the social justice liberals who are more interested in the social gospel and not the actual Gospel.

This has been an ecumenical failure among Bible believing, evangelical churches. The nation really does have some deep divides along race. Churches are often pretty heavily one race or another. Congregants go where they live or where their families went to church. Likewise, because of many post-Civil War historic reasons, many black churches are instilled with a culture white churches do not have.

Many white, evangelical churches see their counterparts in the black community as if they are in a whole separate country. They hear the rhetoric and the theology of some, which sounds a lot like liberal social gospel, and don’t make eye contact instead of finding common ground in the Word.

To be fair, many evangelical churches have been burned by ecumenicalism. From the World Council on Churches to this latest evangelical group for immigration, much of ecumenicalism is a launching pad for liberal abandonment of the Gospel of Christ in favor of the gospel of liberalism. Many of the more well known black churches are, for a variety of reasons, seen as being tied to that theologically weak liberalism interested in the here and now instead of the hereafter. So the white evangelicals are skittish and prefer these matters be worked out under their roofs where they control the theology.

But whether on their own or as groups, evangelical, Bible believing churches, whether free-will or reformed, need to start building bridges to the black community of Bible believing churches.

If the left and the social gospel crowd remain the only ones building bridges, we will never heal what truly divides us. Focused on feeding bodies that will be hungry again tomorrow and feeding senses of grievance that also will be hungry tomorrow, the left and social gospel crowd will not feed the soul.

Evangelical churches are varied, many, and all over the map. The congregants come from different backgrounds, different skin colors, and different accents. But they all share a common tongue — the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He can mend all fences and build all bridges.

The problems the black community faces are too easily dismissed as their problem. In truth, they are our problem because the black community is as much a part of the American community as you and me. But in greater truth, they are our problem because Christ is for all and he tells us all to go forth, baptize, and teach. Perhaps it is time for relationship building in our backyards instead of on beaches in far off countries. Too often there, well off white Christian kids work on their tans, hammer nails, and speak Jesusese to strangers totally unaware of spiritual hunger just down the street. It’s time they find out.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]