URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
"Missionary in Philippines: 'Bodies Laying Everywhere'- By Dale Hurd and Heather Sells, November 12; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/Truckloads-of-Bodies-Filipinos-Plead-for-Help/ - [PRAY that relief supplies will get to the needed area in time to help the tens of thousands who are in great need. PRAY that security can be established in the midst of looters causing problems in the midst of the devastation. - Stan]
NEWS ALERT: Oct. 23: "Christians Fleeing IRAQ Area Once Considered Safe," - CBNNews.com, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/October/Christians-Fleeing-Iraq-Area-Once-Considered-Safe/ PRAY that believers in Iraq will know God's protection and provision; that believers will know[ whether they are called to flee or remain and persevere; and that their persecutors may come to hear the gospel and come to faith in Christ. - Stan]
Continue to Pray for 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.]
Update on Kenneth Bae: "US Ready to Bargain with N. Korea for Bae's Release,"- CBNNews.com, Aug 14, 2013 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/S-Ready-to-Bargain-with-N-Korea-for-Baes-Release/ - The United States is willing to engage North Korea to secure the release of imprisoned American Christian Kenneth Bae. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is "willing to consider a number of different options" to bring him home.In a video recently released by a North Korean newspaper, Bae requested the United States send a high-ranking official to North Korea to seek his pardon. It is unclear if he spoke of his own volition in the video. Bae, 45, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for sharing his faith. He suffers health problems such as diabetes and is currently hospitalized.[PRAY for 1) God's healing of and presence with Pastor Bae, 2) His earliest release by the North Korean government, and 3) God's comfort for his family and friends.]
NEWS ALERT: Monday, November 04, 2013 - Saeed's Life in [Greater] Jeopardy After Prison Transfer - CBNNews.com, ; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/Saeeds-Life-in-Jeopardy-after-Prison-Transfer/ IRAN - Vigils Mark One Year Imprisonment of Pastor Saeed - CBNNews.com, Thursday, September 26, 2013 - Today marks one-year that American pastor Saeed Abedini has been held in an Iranian prison. He is serving an eight-year sentence because of his Christian faith. It has been a year of torment as he has suffered beatings, physical pain from untreated medical conditions, and separation from his wife and two children... The suffering has not dampened his passion for Jesus. Pastor Abedini has led more than 30 prisoners to Christ during his time in prison. This afternoon, thousands of Americans from coast to coast will pray for his release. Events will be held in 40 states at capitols, city halls, parks and churches. Thousands more will join from 15 nations around the world
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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How do you explain to your kids what Christmas is all about?
I remember the first children’s Bible story books we were given when my kids were born—you know, the ones that teach the timeless lessons: Adam and Eve disobeyed God and messed everything up, so you should obey your mom and dad. Noah was the best man of his time, so God saved him. David slew Goliath and Zacchaeus got to have Jesus over for dinner because, well, you know—God loves small people, too.Most of these children’s Bibles told great stories about heroic men and women who did what God said and everything worked out for them. And if you do what God says, it follows everything will work out for you, too. Right?
Well, that’s the version many kids get from well-intentioned Christian teachers, videos and Sunday school curriculum. The problem is, it’s not the story of Scripture. It’s more like what sociologist Christian Smith once called “moralistic therapeutic deism,” or the idea that Christianity can be summed up as “God wants you to try a little harder to do a little better…just like those great people in the Bible.”
But when you read the Bible cover-to-cover you see just how mistaken this view is. The Bible is a book filled with accounts of broken, sinful, and sometimes downright thick people whom God still chose to use in His redemption plan. And it’s about how all of history ultimately leads up to Jesus Christ, God the Word who became flesh, dwelt among us, and began the re-creation of all things.
That’s why I was so excited to talk on “BreakPoint This Week” to two amazing writers for children, Sally Lloyd Jones, author of “The Jesus Storybook Bible,” and Phil Vischer, creator of “What’s in the Bible?” (and formerly, of course, "VeggieTales”).These two have produced a goldmine of biblical instruction for children.
Jones says she grew up in a Christian home, but viewed the Bible as a rule book or full of commandments and moral heroes to imitate in order to earn God’s love.The inspiration behind her wonderful “Jesus Storybook Bible,” she says, hit when she realized that she’d misunderstood Scripture for most of her life.
“…the Bible is most of all a story,” she said, “And it’s the story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them…if I, as a child growing up in a Christian home…missed the whole point of what the Bible was about, I wondered how many other children were missing it.” And that’s what her children’s books, especially her Christmas gem, “Song of the Stars,” are designed to prevent. Jones says she wants children not to look at Scripture as a collection of moral nuggets, but as a unified epic leading with ever greater clarity to the manger of Jesus Christ, where the only solution to sin and brokenness is found.
Phil Vischer’s journey covered much of the same ground, but he says he didn’t recognize his childhood gospel of moralistic therapeutic deism until well into adulthood. As I shared with you on BreakPoint last year, Vischer—himself the voice of Bob the Tomato—admits the message taught in many “VeggieTales” wasn’t fully ripe Christianity. In his own words, “You can say ‘hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so.’ But that isn’t Christianity.”
His latest work, especially the children’s puppet series “What’s in the Bible?” with Buck Denver, captures an entirely different message. Children learn about the unity of Scripture, how each piece fits together to form the great story about Jesus Christ, who came to save us from trying to please God ourselves.
And in the remarkable video “Why Do We Call It Christmas?” children can discover the origins of some of our most beloved Christian traditions, and how they each point back to the “upside down” story we celebrate this time of year: that the King of the Universe became a child, to rewrite our story, and make us all His children....
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
AS I SEE IT: Have you not been able to decide on gifts for young children in your life? Consider the resources spoken of in this article. So many gifts we give merely end up entertaining but never also speaking real Biblical truth in a way that communicates effecftively. May I encourage you to go out and pick up copies of the items spoken of here.Make a point of giving gifts that do more than bring a smile to someone's face but reaches deep and touches their soul, maybe even transform their lives. - Stan
RESOURCES:
"A Nation Divided: Why Do We Call It Christmas "- A Veggie Tale DVD-Video; Ever wonder why we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th? Or why we hang stockings and decorate trees? Or how Santa Claus became such a big part of the holiday? Find out when you join VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer and his friends Buck Denver, Captain Peter, Sunday School Lady, and others for the most unusual Christmas party ever! Approx. 45 minutes.
"Cottages and Vegetables - Leaving the Christian Art Ghetto," By: John Stsonestreet| Breakpoint.org: July 6, 2012; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/19742
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