The Bulletin Board:(Please SCROLL DOWN this page to find the article titled on this post in LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS. Thank you.)
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
URGENT REQUEST: Pray for Brittany Maynard (discussed in past posts #1025 and #1026 and the second article in post #1032) who plans to commit suicide SAT., NOV. 1. Pray that there are family and friends who will finally persuade her to change her mind.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
ELECTION DAY, NOV. 4th. Let's begin praying that the American people will have wisdom in voting into office those who will lead our communities and nation with integrity and wisdom from God and DO NO HARM!.
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
"Not Everyone Happy with Religious Ambassador Pick," Caitlin Burke,July 29, 2014;
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
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.]
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"A Line Has Been Crossed - IT’S TIME TO SOUND THE ALARM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY" - By: Eric Metaxas| Breakpoint.org: October 21, 2014;
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/26266?spMailingID=9726161&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=401821380&spReportId=NDAxODIxMzgwS0[NOTE: Check out my commentary on post #1035 that also addressed this threat to religious freedom.]
Something outrageous and unprecedented has happened in America. And if the American church doesn’t respond -- then there really is no American church.
Last week I told you that Houston’s Mayor, Annise Parker, demanded to see the sermons of a group of five pastors and threatened them with a subpoena. Why? Because the pastors had objected to a new so-called “equal rights” ordinance that would allow self-identified “transgendered” men to use women’s restrooms.
That’s an issue all its own. But as bad as that is, the Houston mayor’s shocking and outrageous trampling on the religious liberty of these pastors is far, far more disturbing. In fact, for someone in government to demand that pastors turn over their sermons is almost beyond belief. I confess I almost thought I was reading something out of my own book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, where I describe how the Gestapo tried to harass and intimidate Martin Niemoller and other German pastors speaking the truth from their pulpits. But this happened in America, a country that was founded on religious liberty.
Now let me be clear: I don’t like to get people excited over nothing. But if ever there was a time to get excited—if ever there was a time to stand up and shout—folks, this is it. The Houston Mayor’s office has crossed a bold red line—and it has walked all over religious freedom in an act so brazen that it demands a response. And not just for religious liberty. Religious liberty is the canary in the coal mine. If this inexcusable act goes unanswered, it will open the door to government threatening other liberties. So this is not just about Christians and the church in America—it’s about all Americans. And it’s about America itself.
So if we don’t act on this, we can’t complain when we lose further liberties and eventually we aren’t able to act at all. This is our chance. Whatever voice and liberties we have now, we must use.
So what am I suggesting we do? Well, my friends at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission had a great idea. They urged pastors all across America to send their sermons to the Houston Mayor’s office. In fact, why don’t we all send sermons? But then I had another idea: we should send Bibles as well.
Why Bibles? Because we need to say that this is the Word of God and in America it is not subject to governmental oversight or regulation. Those who value this book answer to a higher authority than the State. I’m happy to say that I emailed my thoughts to Mike Huckabee, and he repeated the call on his TV show Saturday.
I’ll have that address of the Mayor's office in a moment, but won’t you please join us and send a sermon or a Bible or even a card with a scripture verse to Mayor Parker? Pray over it and send it in love. Pray that God would show Mayor Parker and every politician in America that religious freedom is sacred and we cannot allow the State to trample upon it -- and by God’s grace, we won’t.
As I've said, the church has to answer this mayor's outrageous and deeply un-American action. We've got to forcefully remind those in government that the church in America has been free since 1776—and the Founders intended it to stay that way. And we do too.
Just recently I was jogging along the Charles River in Newton, Massachusetts, not far from Boston—the “Cradle of Liberty”—and near Lexington and Concord. And I was thinking about when Paul Revere rode through the night, sounding the alarm. In a way that’s what this is. We must do the same—sound the alarm.
... If the American church does not rise up and stand against this, there is no American church. So won’t you please stand and be the church? God bless you. And God bless America.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION - "A Line Has Been Crossed: It’s Time to Sound the Alarm on Religious Liberty" - Great sermons are meant to be shared. Ask your pastor to give you printed copies of two of his best sermons, and send them to Mayor Parker. The address is City Hall, 901 Bagby Street, Houston, TX 77002. Then begin praying daily for Mayor Parker and all public officials, following Paul's guidelines in 1 Timothy 2:1-2.
Below are links to more details and information about the Houston controversy.
"Hand Over Your Sermons, Or Else: Intimidating the Faithful" - Eric Metaxas | BreakPoinrt.org | October 17, 2014; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/26252
"Houston, We Have a Constitution" - Russell Moore | Moore to the Point | October 14, 2014; http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/10/14/houston-we-have-a-constitution/
"Houston to pastors: Forget your sermons, now we want your speeches" - Todd Starnes | FoxNews.com | October 17, 2014; http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/17/houston-to-pastors-forget-your-sermons-now-want-your-speeches/
"#4Houston5: Stand with Houston pastors" - Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission | October 15, 2014; http://erlc.com/article/4houston5-stand-with-houston-pastors
"Houston Drops Sermons from Subpoenas" - Kate Shellnutt | Christianity Today | October 17, 2014; http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/october/houston-feels-pressure-after-subpoena-response-sermons.html
"Houston to Pastors: OK, We Don’t Need Your Sermons, but You Still Have to Hand Over Your Speeches" - Andrew Kloster | The Daily Signal | October 17, 2014; http://dailysignal.com/2014/10/17/houston-pastors-ok-dont-need-sermons-still-hand-speeches/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
Overcoming Fear - Dietrich Bonhoeffer sermon; http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/overcoming-fear-dietrich-bonhoeffer-sermon-on-anxiety-168650.asp
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
URGENT REQUEST: Pray for Brittany Maynard (discussed in past posts #1025 and #1026 and the second article in post #1032) who plans to commit suicide SAT., NOV. 1. Pray that there are family and friends who will finally persuade her to change her mind.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
ELECTION DAY, NOV. 4th. Let's begin praying that the American people will have wisdom in voting into office those who will lead our communities and nation with integrity and wisdom from God and DO NO HARM!.
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
PRAY ALSO : - 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
- For leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
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.]
"A Line Has Been Crossed - IT’S TIME TO SOUND THE ALARM ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY" - By: Eric Metaxas| Breakpoint.org: October 21, 2014;
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/26266?spMailingID=9726161&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=401821380&spReportId=NDAxODIxMzgwS0[NOTE: Check out my commentary on post #1035 that also addressed this threat to religious freedom.]
Something outrageous and unprecedented has happened in America. And if the American church doesn’t respond -- then there really is no American church.
Last week I told you that Houston’s Mayor, Annise Parker, demanded to see the sermons of a group of five pastors and threatened them with a subpoena. Why? Because the pastors had objected to a new so-called “equal rights” ordinance that would allow self-identified “transgendered” men to use women’s restrooms.
That’s an issue all its own. But as bad as that is, the Houston mayor’s shocking and outrageous trampling on the religious liberty of these pastors is far, far more disturbing. In fact, for someone in government to demand that pastors turn over their sermons is almost beyond belief. I confess I almost thought I was reading something out of my own book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, where I describe how the Gestapo tried to harass and intimidate Martin Niemoller and other German pastors speaking the truth from their pulpits. But this happened in America, a country that was founded on religious liberty.
Now let me be clear: I don’t like to get people excited over nothing. But if ever there was a time to get excited—if ever there was a time to stand up and shout—folks, this is it. The Houston Mayor’s office has crossed a bold red line—and it has walked all over religious freedom in an act so brazen that it demands a response. And not just for religious liberty. Religious liberty is the canary in the coal mine. If this inexcusable act goes unanswered, it will open the door to government threatening other liberties. So this is not just about Christians and the church in America—it’s about all Americans. And it’s about America itself.
So if we don’t act on this, we can’t complain when we lose further liberties and eventually we aren’t able to act at all. This is our chance. Whatever voice and liberties we have now, we must use.
So what am I suggesting we do? Well, my friends at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission had a great idea. They urged pastors all across America to send their sermons to the Houston Mayor’s office. In fact, why don’t we all send sermons? But then I had another idea: we should send Bibles as well.
Why Bibles? Because we need to say that this is the Word of God and in America it is not subject to governmental oversight or regulation. Those who value this book answer to a higher authority than the State. I’m happy to say that I emailed my thoughts to Mike Huckabee, and he repeated the call on his TV show Saturday.
I’ll have that address of the Mayor's office in a moment, but won’t you please join us and send a sermon or a Bible or even a card with a scripture verse to Mayor Parker? Pray over it and send it in love. Pray that God would show Mayor Parker and every politician in America that religious freedom is sacred and we cannot allow the State to trample upon it -- and by God’s grace, we won’t.
As I've said, the church has to answer this mayor's outrageous and deeply un-American action. We've got to forcefully remind those in government that the church in America has been free since 1776—and the Founders intended it to stay that way. And we do too.
Just recently I was jogging along the Charles River in Newton, Massachusetts, not far from Boston—the “Cradle of Liberty”—and near Lexington and Concord. And I was thinking about when Paul Revere rode through the night, sounding the alarm. In a way that’s what this is. We must do the same—sound the alarm.
... If the American church does not rise up and stand against this, there is no American church. So won’t you please stand and be the church? God bless you. And God bless America.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION - "A Line Has Been Crossed: It’s Time to Sound the Alarm on Religious Liberty" - Great sermons are meant to be shared. Ask your pastor to give you printed copies of two of his best sermons, and send them to Mayor Parker. The address is City Hall, 901 Bagby Street, Houston, TX 77002. Then begin praying daily for Mayor Parker and all public officials, following Paul's guidelines in 1 Timothy 2:1-2.
Below are links to more details and information about the Houston controversy.
"Hand Over Your Sermons, Or Else: Intimidating the Faithful" - Eric Metaxas | BreakPoinrt.org | October 17, 2014; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/26252
"Houston, We Have a Constitution" - Russell Moore | Moore to the Point | October 14, 2014; http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/10/14/houston-we-have-a-constitution/
"Houston to pastors: Forget your sermons, now we want your speeches" - Todd Starnes | FoxNews.com | October 17, 2014; http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/17/houston-to-pastors-forget-your-sermons-now-want-your-speeches/
"#4Houston5: Stand with Houston pastors" - Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission | October 15, 2014; http://erlc.com/article/4houston5-stand-with-houston-pastors
"Houston Drops Sermons from Subpoenas" - Kate Shellnutt | Christianity Today | October 17, 2014; http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/october/houston-feels-pressure-after-subpoena-response-sermons.html
"Houston to Pastors: OK, We Don’t Need Your Sermons, but You Still Have to Hand Over Your Speeches" - Andrew Kloster | The Daily Signal | October 17, 2014; http://dailysignal.com/2014/10/17/houston-pastors-ok-dont-need-sermons-still-hand-speeches/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
Overcoming Fear - Dietrich Bonhoeffer sermon; http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/overcoming-fear-dietrich-bonhoeffer-sermon-on-anxiety-168650.asp
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