REMINDER: 1) Check out this week's broadcast of ''Truth ThatTransforms'' (http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/tr/uth-that-transforms This week’s sermon is entitled “ A Godly Education" and explains what is happening in our public schools. It also presents a feature about a courageous home-schooling German family; and 2) I came across this fantastic message by Jentezen Franklin on 9/6 that could simply be entitled, "Be There!" I know, you've viewed your share of sermons; but trust me, THIS IS ONE IS VERY WORTH YOUR TIME.
http://event.cbn.com/weekofprayer/2013-fall/default.aspx?ventID=143699&cpid=DM1309061 PLEASE take time to check these programs out!
[THANK YOU for your prayers for my friend David. He ended up not having that opportunity to share with his Mom as he had hoped recently. Pray that he might have such an opportunity very soon. – Stan]
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: "Syrian Christians Brace for Strike, Ask for Prayer," - by Gary Lane, August 31, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/Syrian-Christians-Brace-for-Strike-Ask-for-Prayer/"As Syrians brace themselves for a possible U.S. military attack, many of the county's Christians are praying for divine intervention. They say military action against the Assad regime will only bring them greater hardship and suffering and they're asking Christians worldwide to pray that God intervenes to bring peace to their nation. They believe the collective prayers of Christians around the world could reverse an escalating conflict..."
[EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
“Abandoned” For Christ" - Graham Calls On White House To Support Abedini - By Dr. Tom Askew, Aug.8, http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/opinion
Franklin Graham is the latest to join the chorus of voices calling for U.S. State Department and White House officials to take a more vocal role in protesting the Iranian imprisonment of American pastor Saeed Abedini. September 26 will mark the one year anniversary of Abedini’s imprisonment for allegedly “endangering the national security” of Iran.
Graham pointed out that, in contrast to Iranian accusations, “Pastor Saeed was in Iran trying to help children. With the permission of Iran’s government, he was working to build an orphanage. But his humanitarian mission led to an arrest on bogus charges and nearly a year of inhumane treatment, simply because he loves Jesus Christ.”...
Behind the scenes, more than 600,000 people around the world have signed a petition sponsored by ACLJ in support of pastor Abedini. A concerted movement this past May brought together Christians from many nations to set aside Pentecost to pray for Abedini. On June 13, demonstrations were held at Iranian embassies in at least six countries to protest Abedini’s treatment. And, on July 29, Arizona Republican Representative Trent Franks spoke on the floor of the House to urge other Congressmen to join him in “adopting” Pastor Abedini through the bipartisan Defending Freedoms Project.
Saeed’s response…and yours - Through his family living in Iran, Pastor Abedini has been made aware of these efforts on his behalf, and is grateful. “I heard that the persecution, my arrest and imprisonment has united churches from different denominations, from different cities and countries. That the churches have united together in prayer to put one request (my freedom) on one day (Pentecost) before God,” he wrote in a letter.
The story of Saeed Abedini, the jihad against Syrian Christians, the attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt, and the ongoing desecration of churches in Nigeria and India should cause every American to reflect on the blessings of freedom still enjoyed in this nation.
PRAY: - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- BOLDly (Beside Our Leaders Daily) for leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
Go to SaveSaeed.org to sign a petition over 600,000 others asking for his immediate release.
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"Armed with Faith - The Amazing Story of Antoinette Tuff," - by: Eric Metaxas|Breakpoint.org: September 5, 2013 http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/23256?spMailingID=6896688&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=87059276&spReportId=ODcwNTkyNzYS1 [AS I SEE IT - This story is a good reminder that being Biblically heroic is often simply being Jesus to others, of being there for them and directing them to do what for them might take great courage also. It is what it means to live our faith and not just have one. - Stan]
How do we respond when everything is on the line? In fear, or in faith? Or perhaps in a little of both? Well, one amazing story is getting national attention.
The scene had all the makings of yet another tragedy. Twenty-year-old Michael Hill walked into the Ronald E. McNair Learning Academy in Decatur, Georgia armed with an AK-47, five hundred rounds of ammunition, and in his words, “nothing to live for.” Yet events in Decatur didn’t turn into another Newtown, thanks to the grace of God and a remarkable woman armed only with her faith.
That woman was Antoinette Tuff, the school’s bookkeeper. After Hill took her as a hostage, Tuff acted as the go-between for Hill and the authorities. It was Tuff who relayed Hill’s demands that the police stop using their radios and “stop all movement” or else he would start shooting.
But that’s not all that she did. Tuff started talking to her captor. Specifically, she started talking to him out of her own experience and as a Christian. As she told CNN, “I was just praying. . . . in the inside of myself and saying ‘God, what do I say now? What do I do now?’ I just kept saying that on the inside because I knew that I had no words to say.”
But she found the words. She referred to Hill as “Sir,” “sweetie, and “baby.” She told him that “we’re not going to hate you.” She then went one step further and told him that “I just want you to know I love you, though, OK?”
And she didn’t stop there. Understanding that Hill was a troubled soul—he had actually gone off his psychiatric medication—she shared her own struggles and pain. She told him about her divorce, her disabled son and her own thoughts of suicide, adding that “We all go through something in life. You’re gonna be OK. Sweetheart.” She even offered to walk outside with him if he turned himself in to make sure that the police wouldn’t shoot him.Through a combination of love, empathy, and grace she persuaded Hill to surrender, and then told him that she was proud of him. After the ordeal, she told the 911 dispatcher who heard and recorded her entire conversation with Hill, “I’ve never been so scared in all the days of my life. Oh, Jesus.”
She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that part of what helped her was a sermon series her pastor had started on the previous Sunday about being “anchored in the Lord.” In fact, the morning before her encounter with Hill she had started studying what the pastor had to say about being “anchored in the Lord.” As Cooper told her, “That was good timing of that sermon,” to which she replied, “Very good timing.”
I can’t imagine what she was feeling while Hill pointed a gun at her, and I don’t want to imagine what it would be like to be in her shoes. All I want to do is pray that if I’m ever in a position that I would respond with a fraction of the grace, love, empathy, and courage that Antoinette Tuff did.
The word “hero” gets thrown around pretty promiscuously in our culture. We often use it when what we really mean is “reliable” or even just “celebrity.” But Antoinette Tuff is the real deal. She is a reminder of what Christian courage looks like: She didn’t need a weapon, just her faith and a willingness to love the unlovable and to share her own pain, failures, and struggles, knowing that the rest was in God’s hands. Oh Jesus, indeed.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION
"Antoinette Tuff Hailed as ‘True Hero’ for Handling Georgia School Gunman;" - Greg Botelho, Vivian Kuo, and Josh Levs | CNN | August 22, 2013; http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/us/georgia-school-gunshots
"The Heroism of Antoinette Tuff Reveals What’s Missing from Politics"; - Gary Younge | The Guardian | August 25, 2013; http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/25/antoinette-tuff-heroism-missing-from-politics
"Kingdom Courage: Standing for Truth in an Age in Flight from God;"- T. M. Moore | Viewpoint | ColsonCenter.org | 2012, Christian Courage; http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/wilberforce/ViewPoint_Studies/VP%20Kingdom%20Courage.pdf?spMailingID=6896688&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=87059276&a
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