Bloggers Unite: Algeria and Christian Persecution

You still have a chance to visit the great work of bloggers in an effort called Bloggers Unite for Human Rights.

Here is my contribution:

Algeria: Carry a Bible, Go to Jail

While many of the cultural battles centered on religion in the U.S. involve legal positioning on church and state issues, very real physical persecution of faith exists in many other parts of the world.

A few websites monitor and report on these atrocities, many of which go with little mention or unreported in the mainstream media. Two sites whose mission includes reporting on religious persecution are Compass Direct News and Persecution Blog

Here’s a recent example of persecution. This from Compass Direct News:

ALGIERS, Algeria, May 9 – An Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said.

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Hanging Out Among Them on Halloween

California fires, terror, and Little Bo Peep
What will I be doing this evening? Going out among them! Them, you know the ones…them. The ones that…oh, my gosh…celebrate Halloween.

As I cruise town on the way to my church’s Harvest Festival to man the Jungle Jump bounce house as a volunteer, I will probably see a few revelers. Even at the community outreach event, which is expected to draw about 10,000 people, I’ll have a chance to gawk at the costumed.

Will I think that the guy who made himself look like he is carrying his own bloody, severed arm is ingenious? Probably not. Or that the kid dressed as a skeleton is oh, so, cute? Well, maybe, but I’ll still wonder what’s the fascination with dressing “spooky.”

There’s been a few open forums about Halloween in the blogosphere, including at TheScroogeReport. I’ve learned a lot. But it hasn’t been so much through the blogs that I’ve pondered, but on memories, including those of last week in California...

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Strobel: From Atheist to Christian

To purchase the DVD go to The Case for Christ DVD.

Leona Helmsley Earns This Week’s Top Scrooge Posthumously

"But God said to him, 'You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?

This Week’s Top Scrooge - August 31, 2007

By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport.com '

How many church sermons will include the story of Leona Helmsley and her dog, Trouble, this Sunday?

In case you missed it, Trouble...her pet...inherited $12 million. And for good measure, Trouble’s "fortunes" won’t be over even after her life ends. “I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum,” she ordered. And she left another $3 million to ensure that final resting place is well maintained, including money for a yearly wash or steam-cleaning.

Twelve million dollars. That's two more million dollars than two of her grandchildren are getting combined ($5 million each) and $12 million more than her other two grandchildren are getting...because they are getting zippo as in nada, nothing, and zilch.

I don't make this stuff up, folks. Read the online story at CityNews.ca if you want.

If this is not a modern day parable to be told to congregations everywhere on Sunday, then I don't know what is.

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Evangelist Moves Prayer Show After Muslim Group Pressures TV Station

Internet and television evangelist Bill Keller takes “Live Prayer” to competing station; his remarks on Islam prompt switch.

By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport.com

Evangelist Bill Keller will move his late-night, live call-in prayer and faith program to another Tampa Bay area station after claims that his show was pulled off the air because of pressure from a Muslim group.

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Housing Crisis? What Crisis?

Increasing mortgage and loan problems will not effect mansions in heaven

Awakenings by Alexander

I heard Pastor Chuck Smith, of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, say on the radio today that when he dies, reports of his death will actually be a misnomer.

"They will say, 'Pastor Chuck Smith died today', but actually that is wrong. The more accurate reporting will be, 'Pastor Chuck Smith moved'," Smith said, during his morning message on Christian radio.

What Smith was referring to was that for those that have accepted the Lord, their soul, their conscious self, will have a new dwelling place after physical death. They will have a mansion in heaven.

I was thinking about the recent housing crisis, and yes, I call it a crisis despite whatever financial reports you read these days. I see all the foreclosures, the debt problems, and people moving out of homes they can't afford anymore, and I believe it either is a crisis or will become one. I think about that and realize that for those that know their mansion awaits them in heaven, coping with housing in today's world is no big whoop.

Sure, it stings, it hurts to have to struggle to pay mortgages and loans, but if you as a Christian take a deep breath, know that you have a relationship with Him and that He will be providing you a dwelling place...a most magnificent dwelling place...it's easier to cope.

However, it does take a proper outlook to put our earthly dwellings, which in this case means our bodies, in proper perspective, but it can be done. There are even some who look forward to "moving day". Can you imagine that!?

Many will continue to struggle with housing...the physical building kind and the existing mortgage crisis. Who knows how long the crunch will go on?

Meanwhile, with our focus on all things eternal, we can say "Crisis? What crisis?"

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. - Matthew 6:20

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. - II Corinthians 5:1

In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. - John 14:2

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