This is Memorial Day weekend--a good time to talk about liberty and freedom, but I already wrote my Memorial Day thoughts: so; how would more equality for the “lesser” sex? CALLED, EQUIPPED & NO PLACE TO GO: Women Pastors and the Church (Randy Huber, Warner Press, 2003).
I finally got around to reading Randy’s book, having observed its presence for several years. Being on such a tight book budget is a fright! Reality is retirement no longer provides such things as book allowances. Oh well … Worthwhile read! I met this fine young writer at NAC in years past but cannot recall when or where. Perhaps when my son was on campus. I was impressed with the quality of Randy’s writing, as well as the breadth of his scholarship. A good resource for an active pastor!!
He covers most of the reasons I have ever heard for opposing “women preachers and defends the rights of his female peers with persistent vigor and authority. The ladies should arise with pride, and many of the men should sit down in shame. I still remember the Missouri pastor (now deceased) who ranted and caved years ago at National Convention as he voiced his opposition to the likes of Dr. Wilma Perry preaching in Warner Auditorium. I was ashamed for him that day.
I was further reminded of my dear friend Jack, whom I once pastored, who asked me in all seriousness why the Church of God was caving in to the Feminist Movement in allowing “women preachers”. It startled me, but I patiently explained that it was not a feminist issue because women preachers were a large force in the Holiness Movement in years past (Randy effectively deals with that issue as well).
My real reaction to Randy’s book, some seven years after it was first published--’03) was to look in a recent Church of God Yearbook (08 to be exact) and count the number of congregations in Anderson, IN, our Agency Headquarters. I think I counted 11, all of whom are led by male Pastor’s in the senior slot.
Then I wondered about our Agencies: of course the Women of the Church of God have a female in the lead role; they are probably 100% female. No other would likely dare look to female leadership; then I remembered my own alma mater, WPC. My friend Jay Barber did the unthinkable when he supported Board conclusions to bring a none Church of God educator on board as his successor. Somehow, I don’t believe Dr. Gray, gentle soul that he was, would have found that too distasteful. He had a way of overcoming barriers of one kind and another.
BUT, it all leaves me with one conclusion, Randy; The Church of God (Anderson--Reformation Movement) is no more ready to accept women preachers in places of authority than they are to extend an open hand of denominational fellowship to all followers of Jesus.
A lady Senior Pastor at Park Place Church; horrors. Worse yet, put a woman in charge at Church of God Ministries; I cannot even imagine. Yet, we continue to have this "rash" of women preachers that we somehow cannot scratch ...
From Warner’s World, I am
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Memorial Day Conclusion
Political analyst David Gergen made an interesting observation: had we fought World War Two with the vigor with which we have confronted the BP Gulf-oil-spill, we might likely be speaking German today.
I can agree with that. El Queda could not have more effectively threatened the southern United States than has British Petroleum with this offshore drilling catastrophe. Obviously, this was not in BP’s best self-interest, but neither has the cozy relationship between the giants of the oil industry and the U.S. government been in the public’s best interest, with the high lobbying influences and the low government philosophy of many in both public and private sectors.
There is a defined role for government; Democrats suggest enough involvement to protect public interests; Republicans want to restrict involvement to a bare minimum. The mindset held by so many today, and illustrated by political interests ranging from George Bush to Rand Paul, to Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh who proclaim a social structure that effectively lacks sufficient government controls to protect public interests--in the name of smaller government.
As the Bush election moved toward reality, my internal monitor predicted repeatedly that we could anticipate depression. I watched with dismay as the lack of controls on Wall Street (and elsewhere) hastened the downsizing of our economy. Enron and a host of similar debacles illustrated the coziness corporations felt, and the freedom enjoyed, to push the envelope ethically and morally.
Now we have a real castrophe on our hands, one that could threaten a coastline from Florida westward to Mexico, not to mention Gulf island-nations like Cuba. Add a hurricane into the mix and you have a recipe for an incomprehensible event: can you image the front wall of Katrina surging into inland Mississippi with thick layers of BP oil sludge that is laced with hazardous chemicals?
Accidents cannot be prevented; Rand Paul is right about that. However, it cannot be denied that “better” regulations could prevent more deaths by coal miners, and better regulations might have prevented the BP catastrophe, even the Alaska Valdez incident. Prevented or otherwise, a political climate more intent on protecting the public and public interests could have had an action plan in place and have already been well under way with clean-up in the event of an accident.
President Obama has been far too slow to “take control” because there were too many to then point their finger at “Government takeover.”
It is time we stop allowing political extremists, libertarians, and self interest groups manipulate us with threatening words like “Government takeover,” socialism, ad infinitum. It could happen, but NOT even “liberal Americans” want any part of atheistic communism and a state-run society like China or Saudi Arabia or . . .England for that matter.
We are Americans. We have government of the people, for the people (not just the corporations, the privileged, not just whites … ) and by the people. On this Memorial Weekend it behooves each of us to ask ourselves what we are doing with what we have--especially our freedoms.
Political office has become an innerstate highway to riches today, while ordinary citizens are too involved in their own self-interests--achieving the American Dream. It is time to take back our government (through legal and political means) for ALL the people, and that includes Anthony, my black neighbor, and the Mexican that lives around the corner. Whether our children are worse off or better--than we were--LET EVERYBODY GET OFF THEIR DUFF and develop old fashioned character, personal integrity, and a new accountability for what is taking place.
Moreover, let our political interests once more reflect concern for both the common good, and personal accountability for honesty and ethical behavior, as well as a willingness to sacrifice for a worthwhile cause. Whether or not one personally accepts Christianity, the American political structure came out of a common understanding of the Judaio-Christian ethic as best understood by the Anabaptist and free-church tradition where every individual stood on equal ground without being condemned (rejected) for what he believed.
Memorial Day signals a return to America’s common roots, for which many have paid the supreme price. Meanwhile, I still advocate for the teachings of the one who taught us to love our enemies, do good to them that despitefully use you, and treat your neighbor as yourself, while rendering to God what is his.
From Warner’s World
walkingwithwarner
I can agree with that. El Queda could not have more effectively threatened the southern United States than has British Petroleum with this offshore drilling catastrophe. Obviously, this was not in BP’s best self-interest, but neither has the cozy relationship between the giants of the oil industry and the U.S. government been in the public’s best interest, with the high lobbying influences and the low government philosophy of many in both public and private sectors.
There is a defined role for government; Democrats suggest enough involvement to protect public interests; Republicans want to restrict involvement to a bare minimum. The mindset held by so many today, and illustrated by political interests ranging from George Bush to Rand Paul, to Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh who proclaim a social structure that effectively lacks sufficient government controls to protect public interests--in the name of smaller government.
As the Bush election moved toward reality, my internal monitor predicted repeatedly that we could anticipate depression. I watched with dismay as the lack of controls on Wall Street (and elsewhere) hastened the downsizing of our economy. Enron and a host of similar debacles illustrated the coziness corporations felt, and the freedom enjoyed, to push the envelope ethically and morally.
Now we have a real castrophe on our hands, one that could threaten a coastline from Florida westward to Mexico, not to mention Gulf island-nations like Cuba. Add a hurricane into the mix and you have a recipe for an incomprehensible event: can you image the front wall of Katrina surging into inland Mississippi with thick layers of BP oil sludge that is laced with hazardous chemicals?
Accidents cannot be prevented; Rand Paul is right about that. However, it cannot be denied that “better” regulations could prevent more deaths by coal miners, and better regulations might have prevented the BP catastrophe, even the Alaska Valdez incident. Prevented or otherwise, a political climate more intent on protecting the public and public interests could have had an action plan in place and have already been well under way with clean-up in the event of an accident.
President Obama has been far too slow to “take control” because there were too many to then point their finger at “Government takeover.”
It is time we stop allowing political extremists, libertarians, and self interest groups manipulate us with threatening words like “Government takeover,” socialism, ad infinitum. It could happen, but NOT even “liberal Americans” want any part of atheistic communism and a state-run society like China or Saudi Arabia or . . .England for that matter.
We are Americans. We have government of the people, for the people (not just the corporations, the privileged, not just whites … ) and by the people. On this Memorial Weekend it behooves each of us to ask ourselves what we are doing with what we have--especially our freedoms.
Political office has become an innerstate highway to riches today, while ordinary citizens are too involved in their own self-interests--achieving the American Dream. It is time to take back our government (through legal and political means) for ALL the people, and that includes Anthony, my black neighbor, and the Mexican that lives around the corner. Whether our children are worse off or better--than we were--LET EVERYBODY GET OFF THEIR DUFF and develop old fashioned character, personal integrity, and a new accountability for what is taking place.
Moreover, let our political interests once more reflect concern for both the common good, and personal accountability for honesty and ethical behavior, as well as a willingness to sacrifice for a worthwhile cause. Whether or not one personally accepts Christianity, the American political structure came out of a common understanding of the Judaio-Christian ethic as best understood by the Anabaptist and free-church tradition where every individual stood on equal ground without being condemned (rejected) for what he believed.
Memorial Day signals a return to America’s common roots, for which many have paid the supreme price. Meanwhile, I still advocate for the teachings of the one who taught us to love our enemies, do good to them that despitefully use you, and treat your neighbor as yourself, while rendering to God what is his.
From Warner’s World
walkingwithwarner
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
"The God Who Is"
It will never reach the NY Times best book seller list, but we sold many of them at a recent church affair. Let me share a quote with you the author:
I am not taken up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes around the corner predicting the fulfillment of time, or how to make a fast fortitude, or even what a bad, bad world we are. Never mind your theatrics, give it to me straight without trying to bury me in it, and give it to me in words that make good use of the communication skills that language gives us.
We all know we live in a chaotic world today, but so many preachers are so overly engaged in enhancing their abilities as public speakers, humorists, entertainers, political commentators, and country club therapists, that they have profitably lost their prophetic edge. Having said that, I offer this quote:
“The state of the world, my friend, is chaotic. Morally we have gone
insane, and we live in the mad house of moral corruption and perversion.
Socially we are confused. We have forgotten the images of righteousness
and justice, and we call evil good and good evil. Spiritually we have
become antagonistic and polemic, having forsaken the fountain of the
Living Water, digging to ourselves cisterns, which hold no water. As a
result, we are unsatisfied, empty and materialistic and pleasure-mad.
The moral decay, the violence, and the perversion that chastise our land
have surpassed the days of Noah and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and
we do not care.
The state of the church can be described at its best as “getting used
to the dark” (italics for emphasis).
The book is The God Who Is, written by Bill C. Kontantopoulos (Reformation Publishers, 2010). Here are four (4) reasons for buying it.
1) It will greatly enhance your appreciation for a broader reading of
the Bible.
2) It will lift you up to a more awesome and inspiring conviction of
God as a personal factor in your daily living.
3) It promises hope where there is no hope.
4) Because the church is "too adjusted to the dark" and oftentime the
communication is lacking adequate expression.
Whatever one’s cultural and social affinities, the writer stays in the mainstream of biblical solutions. He has walked the walk as well as talking the talk; he weaves veers neither left nor right, but stayed focused. He says well what he has to say and stops.
You’ll find it worth the price (for further information call 1-800-765-2464 or inquire at rpublisher@aol.com. $12.95.
From Warner’s World,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
I am not taken up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes around the corner predicting the fulfillment of time, or how to make a fast fortitude, or even what a bad, bad world we are. Never mind your theatrics, give it to me straight without trying to bury me in it, and give it to me in words that make good use of the communication skills that language gives us.
We all know we live in a chaotic world today, but so many preachers are so overly engaged in enhancing their abilities as public speakers, humorists, entertainers, political commentators, and country club therapists, that they have profitably lost their prophetic edge. Having said that, I offer this quote:
“The state of the world, my friend, is chaotic. Morally we have gone
insane, and we live in the mad house of moral corruption and perversion.
Socially we are confused. We have forgotten the images of righteousness
and justice, and we call evil good and good evil. Spiritually we have
become antagonistic and polemic, having forsaken the fountain of the
Living Water, digging to ourselves cisterns, which hold no water. As a
result, we are unsatisfied, empty and materialistic and pleasure-mad.
The moral decay, the violence, and the perversion that chastise our land
have surpassed the days of Noah and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and
we do not care.
The state of the church can be described at its best as “getting used
to the dark” (italics for emphasis).
The book is The God Who Is, written by Bill C. Kontantopoulos (Reformation Publishers, 2010). Here are four (4) reasons for buying it.
1) It will greatly enhance your appreciation for a broader reading of
the Bible.
2) It will lift you up to a more awesome and inspiring conviction of
God as a personal factor in your daily living.
3) It promises hope where there is no hope.
4) Because the church is "too adjusted to the dark" and oftentime the
communication is lacking adequate expression.
Whatever one’s cultural and social affinities, the writer stays in the mainstream of biblical solutions. He has walked the walk as well as talking the talk; he weaves veers neither left nor right, but stayed focused. He says well what he has to say and stops.
You’ll find it worth the price (for further information call 1-800-765-2464 or inquire at rpublisher@aol.com. $12.95.
From Warner’s World,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Sunday, May 23, 2010
HOMELAND, the Memoir of George H. Obama
My most recent “Kenya read” is Homeland, An Extraordinary Story of Hope and Survival (by George Hussein Obama, Simon & Schuster, 2010. It introduces five year old George playing football on a Nairobi playground. A sweaty, dirty, little kid meets a dignified American Senator who comes to meet him--Barack Obama--half brother.
It tells the story of a son of Kenya raised by an attractive black mother, a nominal Catholic and a widow by virtue of her husband’s automobile accident (Barack Sr). For ten years George lounges in the benefits (?) of an affluent white Frenchman--unmarried stepfather that affords him domestic security, and all that status and influence can buy.
En route to becoming “somebody, George discovers his stepfather (Christian, his name) gone--3 cars, possessions, everything. An angry, rebellious and troubled George crashes and burns. He fails miserably in his education, falling into a life of drinking, smoking hashish, carousing--his detour to gangland and crime--eventually prison.
At 20 he was arrested for a crime he did not commit (not just an excuse). He and his 3 best buddies get buried in a Nairobi hellhole--Kenyan jail, where graft and corruption reign supreme. Almost miraculously, he represents himself and his 3 friends and the judge “finally” allows justice to prevail. He throws the case out and George walks into freedom--a (self) changed man.
After winning his freedom, George again meets his American stepbrother and draws courage and strength from his brother’s successes. He turns his life around, choosing to live in the Nairobi ghetto that had become home - helping kids overcome the challenges of the ghetto (inspiring).
“My brother has risen to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Here in Kenya, my aim is to be a leader amongst the poorest people on earth--those who live in the slums” writes George. Obama, 28, lives and works in the ghetto under the auspices of the Huruma Centre Community Youth Group and The Mwelu Foundation, established by another rehabilitated reformer who uses photography to renew kids lives.
I had many reactions to this book. I see a young African challenged by the success of his older stepbrother, President Barack Obama, after nearly destroying his life. I read with a jaundiced eye his growing up in a religious home (mother a practicing Catholic and unmarried, and a white Frenchman that would live with her 10 years then disappear.
I understood the savage anger George nurtured but disapproved his life of crime, which he freely divulges. I saw two grown individuals claiming to be something they really were not, raising a child to whom they gave everything except what he needed most. I am also sensitive to children of divorce (broken marriages); I have experienced the resulting anger and see it as terribly abusive to children.
I recoiled at his rejection of God, then of his turn toward Islam, the “nominal” faith of his father (you can be a Muslim and be nothing whatsoever as long as you perform the 4-5 rituals and confess Allah, you can even be a terrorist). However, I respect George for rehabilitating himself as a human being: I am only sorry he short-circuited his faith journey by returning to “the faith of his blood father.”
It hinders him from coming to the kind of peace and personal transformation that goes beyond what one can do for one’s self as it relates to the God (Arab word is Allah) who revealed himself through the resurrection of Jesus and who relates within the transformed person as the Holy Spirit. I pray that it will one day happen.
As for big brother, Barack, political extremists still slander him as a closet Muslim et al, but he is a self-confessed Christian and I find much to admire him for, although admittedly I have not questioned his theology, and I definitely disapprove of his beer drinking and cigarette smoking--both nasty habits that destroy many lives, even if they may not condemn him to the pit--poor, poor stewardship.
Wow! This has gone on and on and I still have Gordon Bailey’s verse via Assist News Service. Bailey, from the UK, asks the question How different am I? Bailey says in verse what I would like to say, but he says it so much better:
I see other people and look at their life-styles,
their passion to own as they buy;
their joy as they see they're surpassing the Jones;
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
Their clothes are designer, they worship their motors,
they cherish their money supply;
I see they take pride in their homes and their gardens,
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
They say they're as happy as might be expected
of those who work hard and aim high;
I notice how tightly they hold their possessions,
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
They point to disasters, to warfare, to suffering,
to cancer, to AIDS and ask 'Why?'
I ponder their doubting, the ways they are thinking,
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
I say I am different, that I'm a believer,
I study the scriptures each day;
I gather together with others to worship
and bow in respect as I pray.
My faith is my hallmark, I'm deeply committed,
for God and his purpose I choose.
Yet all I have said I admit can be said of
the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Jews!
I say I'm a Christian, that Christ makes a difference;
what difference does Christ really make?
If there is no difference twixt me and a Hindu,
is my faith in Christ a mistake?
Will it be the intimate friendship with Jesus
that sooner or later shows through,
in gentle concern and consistent forgiveness
in all that I say and I do?
Or is it my faith in the Christ who lives in me
that helps me step out of His way,
so others will see, as they notice what's happening,
that Jesus is now on display?
His freedom for those who are caught in sin's bondage;
His healing for every heart-break;
His love for the outcast, the drunkard, the stranger;
are the differences Jesus will make.
Christ's love is unfailing, His joy is transcendent,
Christ's peace is beyond all degree.
I need to trust Jesus so others will witness
His differences shining through me (© Gordon Bailey 2010).
from Warner’s World,I am
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
It tells the story of a son of Kenya raised by an attractive black mother, a nominal Catholic and a widow by virtue of her husband’s automobile accident (Barack Sr). For ten years George lounges in the benefits (?) of an affluent white Frenchman--unmarried stepfather that affords him domestic security, and all that status and influence can buy.
En route to becoming “somebody, George discovers his stepfather (Christian, his name) gone--3 cars, possessions, everything. An angry, rebellious and troubled George crashes and burns. He fails miserably in his education, falling into a life of drinking, smoking hashish, carousing--his detour to gangland and crime--eventually prison.
At 20 he was arrested for a crime he did not commit (not just an excuse). He and his 3 best buddies get buried in a Nairobi hellhole--Kenyan jail, where graft and corruption reign supreme. Almost miraculously, he represents himself and his 3 friends and the judge “finally” allows justice to prevail. He throws the case out and George walks into freedom--a (self) changed man.
After winning his freedom, George again meets his American stepbrother and draws courage and strength from his brother’s successes. He turns his life around, choosing to live in the Nairobi ghetto that had become home - helping kids overcome the challenges of the ghetto (inspiring).
“My brother has risen to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Here in Kenya, my aim is to be a leader amongst the poorest people on earth--those who live in the slums” writes George. Obama, 28, lives and works in the ghetto under the auspices of the Huruma Centre Community Youth Group and The Mwelu Foundation, established by another rehabilitated reformer who uses photography to renew kids lives.
I had many reactions to this book. I see a young African challenged by the success of his older stepbrother, President Barack Obama, after nearly destroying his life. I read with a jaundiced eye his growing up in a religious home (mother a practicing Catholic and unmarried, and a white Frenchman that would live with her 10 years then disappear.
I understood the savage anger George nurtured but disapproved his life of crime, which he freely divulges. I saw two grown individuals claiming to be something they really were not, raising a child to whom they gave everything except what he needed most. I am also sensitive to children of divorce (broken marriages); I have experienced the resulting anger and see it as terribly abusive to children.
I recoiled at his rejection of God, then of his turn toward Islam, the “nominal” faith of his father (you can be a Muslim and be nothing whatsoever as long as you perform the 4-5 rituals and confess Allah, you can even be a terrorist). However, I respect George for rehabilitating himself as a human being: I am only sorry he short-circuited his faith journey by returning to “the faith of his blood father.”
It hinders him from coming to the kind of peace and personal transformation that goes beyond what one can do for one’s self as it relates to the God (Arab word is Allah) who revealed himself through the resurrection of Jesus and who relates within the transformed person as the Holy Spirit. I pray that it will one day happen.
As for big brother, Barack, political extremists still slander him as a closet Muslim et al, but he is a self-confessed Christian and I find much to admire him for, although admittedly I have not questioned his theology, and I definitely disapprove of his beer drinking and cigarette smoking--both nasty habits that destroy many lives, even if they may not condemn him to the pit--poor, poor stewardship.
Wow! This has gone on and on and I still have Gordon Bailey’s verse via Assist News Service. Bailey, from the UK, asks the question How different am I? Bailey says in verse what I would like to say, but he says it so much better:
I see other people and look at their life-styles,
their passion to own as they buy;
their joy as they see they're surpassing the Jones;
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
Their clothes are designer, they worship their motors,
they cherish their money supply;
I see they take pride in their homes and their gardens,
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
They say they're as happy as might be expected
of those who work hard and aim high;
I notice how tightly they hold their possessions,
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
They point to disasters, to warfare, to suffering,
to cancer, to AIDS and ask 'Why?'
I ponder their doubting, the ways they are thinking,
and ask 'Just how different am I?'
I say I am different, that I'm a believer,
I study the scriptures each day;
I gather together with others to worship
and bow in respect as I pray.
My faith is my hallmark, I'm deeply committed,
for God and his purpose I choose.
Yet all I have said I admit can be said of
the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Jews!
I say I'm a Christian, that Christ makes a difference;
what difference does Christ really make?
If there is no difference twixt me and a Hindu,
is my faith in Christ a mistake?
Will it be the intimate friendship with Jesus
that sooner or later shows through,
in gentle concern and consistent forgiveness
in all that I say and I do?
Or is it my faith in the Christ who lives in me
that helps me step out of His way,
so others will see, as they notice what's happening,
that Jesus is now on display?
His freedom for those who are caught in sin's bondage;
His healing for every heart-break;
His love for the outcast, the drunkard, the stranger;
are the differences Jesus will make.
Christ's love is unfailing, His joy is transcendent,
Christ's peace is beyond all degree.
I need to trust Jesus so others will witness
His differences shining through me (© Gordon Bailey 2010).
from Warner’s World,I am
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Loving God in a World of Violent Neighbors
Photo credit to Eleanor Beardsley from NPR shows the kinds of live shells still being dug up in Europe from the world wars.Okay ... Eric caused me to go back and check my source--I had to be sure (blame it on him :-). I dug into my outgoing bookstack and pulled out Ishmael Beah’s Memoirs of a boy soldier, A Long Way Gone, Sarah Crichton Books, NY, 2007. And yes Eric, it was a surrealistic read--sadly true first hand account. Having determined that direction, this is what comes out. . .
I’ve read a number of books on Darfur, the John Githongo story, African Colonialism, reconciliation among victims of Genocide, et al. Such savagery may only be surpassed by this bizarre warping of an adolescent, West African child. Three innocent boys on a 16-mile hike to a talent competition in a nearby community find themselves stranded and forced to flee for their lives.
They are captured by the revolutionary soldiers from whom they found it necessary to flee. From 13-16, Ishmael existed as a boy soldier enduring unspeakable experiences, only to be captured by Government soldiers. UNICEF negotiators finally got Ishmael released, rehabilitated, and returned to private life.
As a student Ishmael proved his worthiness to represent his country in New York City. There, he joined 57 other children from 23 nations and presented the situation affecting the children of his country. He left NYC 11-15-1996 pleased to have met people outside his own country, “because if I was to get killed upon my return, I knew that a memory of my existence was alive somewhere in the world.”
During his stolen childhood, Ishmael became an active participant, walking long hours, stopping only to eat sardines and corned beef with gari, sniff cocaine, brown brown, and take some white capsules. “The idea of death didn’t cross my mind at all,” he admitted, “killing had become as easy as drinking water. My mind had not only snapped during the first killing, it had also stopped making remorseful records, or so it seemed.”
On one raid, government soldiers captured a few rebels after a long gunfight and a lot of civilian casualties. “Where did you get all this ammunition from,” demanded the corporal of a prisoner. The prisoner spat in his face and “The corporal shot him in the head at close range immediately ... He fell onto the ground and blood slowly leaked out of his head. We cheered in admiration of the corporal’s fierceness and saluted him as he walked by.
“Suddenly, Lansana, one of the boys was shot in the chest and head by a rebel hiding in the bushes. We dispersed around the village in search of the shooter. When the young muscular rebel was captured. The lieutenant slit his neck with his bayonet. The rebel ran up and down the village before he fell to the ground and stopped moving. We cheered again, raising our guns in the air, shouting and whistling …
“We’--the lieutenant pointed to us-- … Our job is a serious one and we have the most capable soldiers, who will do anything to defend this country. We are not like the rebels, those riffraffs who kill people for no reason. We kill them for the good and betterment of this country. . .” (emphasis added).
Since Ishmael's rehabilitation, he relocated to the United States--1998--graduated from Oberlin college in 2004. He now serves on the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken widely before a variety of “ngo panels on children affected by war.”
Sadistic, you say? I agree. Such is the selfishness and greed of unsatiated self-satisfaction, savagery, and sin, the kind that supports war and terrorism and gun-smuggling. Such becomes the defense and the behavior of a culture of war, from either perspective. Such is the potential of life in any culture that rejects “Jesus”--the start down on a slippery slope that has no definable bottom.
I recognize “institutional Christians”--both Catholic and Protestant denomination--have perpetrated as much violence as Buddhists, Islamists, and atheists. On the other hand, show me a true practitioner of the "teachings of Jesus" and I will show you someone who finds it impossible to follow Jesus and behave violently against another.
It is a high standard, but show me evidence to the contrary.Jesus offers the only "relationship" in the world with a "personally transforming" difference.
from Warner’s World, this is
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Ministering to Children
God's Peace be with little Josiah!One of the books I recently read described 300,000 African child soldiers, led by ruthless killers. The young author recounted his experiences of walking 2 days with sleep ... seeing heads cut off by machetes, smashed by cement blocks, and rivers filled with so much blood that the water ceased flowing. "Each time my mind replayed these scenes," he wrote,"I increased my pace." He finally made good his escape.
He had been captured against his will, but ended up in that life where it was common to smoke marijuana, sniff brown brown (cocaine mixed with gunpower), and pop energy pills. That is all part of the world many of us tune out.
On the other hand there are mission-minded pastors in many part of the world working to eliminate such violence from the lives of children. Central Church in Riverside, CA is swimming upstream against the violence of the drug cartel (whose best customers are American druggies), domestic violence, and poverty in Mexico.
So I rejoiced when I read Pastor Eric's "Happy Birthday Josiah!" Because of you Eric wrote, Just 10 days old when he came to us last year, Josiah was one of the first kids to move into Beginnings@Siempre after you helped build it. Abandoned into our arms so tiny and frail...
LOOK AT HIM NOW! Real success. Living, breathing, growing, walking, eating, loving success... because of you. Thank you is no where big enough a word... but thank you.
Memorial Day Weekend is here! Next Friday night we'll have our first big dinner together, then Saturday morning we build! Thanks to each of you that have sent financial support- we paid off the property Beginning's on last Wednesday! God is too good! Thanks to those who've supported the kids all year long. Thanks to the builders, the painters, the wall paper hangers, those who laid the flooring... to each of you... Josiah and 20 other infants have safety and a home because of you. Your love and caring rescued them. What a legacy to leave!
Pray for our safety this weekend. We have a small group with a HUGE task. Your prayers mean so very much. If you'd still like to join us- email me today -we still have room. What we do together today changes the lives of abandoned children forever. You're Invited. They need you. Now, more than ever.
I enjoy so much following Eric's links from Siempre (Tijuana) and pray God bless all who minister to children everywhere in Jesus name, espesially in such troubling times for our children.
from Warner's World
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Truth and Integrity in Short Supply
One day during my childhood, I found a neat little jack knife at my Grandmother’s house, while visiting with my mother. I liked it and asked if I could have it. Although I was told "no," I made it home with that desired object in my pocket. When mother discovered what I had done, she quietly accompanied me back to the Superior Street home of Grandmother Nellie and I had to return it to her--in person; of course, that required some explanation as well.
There were a few other such incidents, like getting home with candy or gum when I had only enough money for a gallon of kerosine (the reason for my trip to the store). That turned out like the first experience; consequently, I grew up with a strong sense of what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours. I reached adulthood with a sensitive conscience. I learned to tell the truth, maintain integrity, and avoid lying and deceit.
I am deeply grateful for that strict accountability, for as I look around the world in which I live today, I see a world filled with untruth, deceit, and lack of trust.
So an established politician demands to know, how dare you impugn my impeccable record just because of a few “misspoken words.” I would like to remind the Connecticut politician that he need only ask a veteran how s/he feels about someone claiming military service he never fulfilled, just for personal gain. You just do not “misspeak” claims of that stature without behaving fraudulently!
It seems celebrities are especially vulnerable today, although it is quite common to humanity. Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis unloaded his guilty conscience after lying for several years about doping; of course, he blamed it on Lance Armstrong, who has been under the gun for several years.Santana Moss, of football fame, is also under the gun and it goes on like a cat chasing its tail.
Then there was that Senate vote aimed at reining in risky financial behaviors and regulatory failures, the kind that helped create the Wall Street crash. In China, China-Aid joined 15 other human rights organizations to once again discover the whereabouts of a kidnapped and missing pastor. Citizens in both Thailand and Greece are protesting in the streets with vigor.
Running through these and other news-making incidents that capture our attention are an atmosphere of distrust and lack of truth. Horace Mann once claimed “you need not tell all the truth, unless to those who have a right to know it all. But let all you tell be truth.”
Truth appears to be on the public scaffold these days, trust, truth, and integrity being in seeming short fall. Public organizations depend today onPublic Relations experts to skillfully slant issues and make their pitch acceptable. Madison Avenue boldly offers half-truthes and questionable claims for corporate sponsors in a time when "appearance and feeling" are all that count.
Lying, stealing, coveting, and bearing false witness were all given in the Ten Commandments. Even for one who neither believes in God or the God of the bible, these family cousins remain unbelievably active to this day essential, although they undermine the security, well being, and happiness of every citizen and nation on our planet. Without trust, truth, and moral integrity there can be no such thing as a meaningful relationship, a sound social structure, satisfactory government with peace and security.
It was Bishop Hall who said “a charitable untruth, an uncharitable truth, and an unwise management of truth or love are all to be carefully avoided of him that would go with a right foot in the narrow way.”
Is it too much to imagine what it would be like to live in a society that operated by the Golden Rule that Jesus left us, where we all began treating each other as we want to be treated?
This is Warner’s World,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
There were a few other such incidents, like getting home with candy or gum when I had only enough money for a gallon of kerosine (the reason for my trip to the store). That turned out like the first experience; consequently, I grew up with a strong sense of what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours. I reached adulthood with a sensitive conscience. I learned to tell the truth, maintain integrity, and avoid lying and deceit.
I am deeply grateful for that strict accountability, for as I look around the world in which I live today, I see a world filled with untruth, deceit, and lack of trust.
So an established politician demands to know, how dare you impugn my impeccable record just because of a few “misspoken words.” I would like to remind the Connecticut politician that he need only ask a veteran how s/he feels about someone claiming military service he never fulfilled, just for personal gain. You just do not “misspeak” claims of that stature without behaving fraudulently!
It seems celebrities are especially vulnerable today, although it is quite common to humanity. Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis unloaded his guilty conscience after lying for several years about doping; of course, he blamed it on Lance Armstrong, who has been under the gun for several years.Santana Moss, of football fame, is also under the gun and it goes on like a cat chasing its tail.
Then there was that Senate vote aimed at reining in risky financial behaviors and regulatory failures, the kind that helped create the Wall Street crash. In China, China-Aid joined 15 other human rights organizations to once again discover the whereabouts of a kidnapped and missing pastor. Citizens in both Thailand and Greece are protesting in the streets with vigor.
Running through these and other news-making incidents that capture our attention are an atmosphere of distrust and lack of truth. Horace Mann once claimed “you need not tell all the truth, unless to those who have a right to know it all. But let all you tell be truth.”
Truth appears to be on the public scaffold these days, trust, truth, and integrity being in seeming short fall. Public organizations depend today onPublic Relations experts to skillfully slant issues and make their pitch acceptable. Madison Avenue boldly offers half-truthes and questionable claims for corporate sponsors in a time when "appearance and feeling" are all that count.
Lying, stealing, coveting, and bearing false witness were all given in the Ten Commandments. Even for one who neither believes in God or the God of the bible, these family cousins remain unbelievably active to this day essential, although they undermine the security, well being, and happiness of every citizen and nation on our planet. Without trust, truth, and moral integrity there can be no such thing as a meaningful relationship, a sound social structure, satisfactory government with peace and security.
It was Bishop Hall who said “a charitable untruth, an uncharitable truth, and an unwise management of truth or love are all to be carefully avoided of him that would go with a right foot in the narrow way.”
Is it too much to imagine what it would be like to live in a society that operated by the Golden Rule that Jesus left us, where we all began treating each other as we want to be treated?
This is Warner’s World,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Word for Today
My word for today is attributed to the pen of Daniel Webster:
“If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend,the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures.
"If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible, our country will go on
prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
'Nuff said . . .
from Warner's world,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
“If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend,the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures.
"If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible, our country will go on
prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
'Nuff said . . .
from Warner's world,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Battered by Tornadoes
My daughter called last night to report OK City barraged by tornadoes; did we know it? We knew they were predicted; we did not know they had formed and threatened a wide path of my Cherokee Indian’s growing up grounds.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the reports from OKC-Tulsa and unheard of places like Prague, Boley, even Welty--her birthplace. This morning, when she called her brother, she learned that baby brother (a retired preacher-police chaplain) got caught outside in a hail storm that left him with a head-wound that required 26 staples.
Today I watched our favorite weather forecaster report from WGN-TV and heard his experience with the chase teams viewing the expected battering of Kansas-Oklahoma. I was somewhat amused when he excitedly reported being almost overtaken by funnels that formed directly overhead. They fled for cover, but he proudly acknowledged now being among those select weathermen who have observed a “live” tornado--his first in decades of forecasting from the radar reports.
We actively follow these occasions, especially since baby brother had been very involved in the deadly Moore tornado a few years back.Such episodes recall deep memories, like the day this very young Michigan flatlander stood on the plateau housing Buckley AFB, near Denver, CO. That August afternoon of 1947, I watched the storms forming in Western Kansas--visually counting 13 funnels.
That should have given me pause for concern that afternoon in San Angelo, TX, 1953, when I stubbornly overrode the “hysteria” of my young wife, and proceeded to drive directly toward an approaching tornado. I saw a huge boiling caldron of wind, rain, hail, et al; but no funnel--she needed to get to her piano lesson.
So I drove on in spite of her protests. Having grown up in “tornado alley” she recognized all the signs and had caught sight of the funnel. Fortunately for us, the tornado coming directly at us bounced off the wall of the dam just northwest of the city and changed course. Instead of striking us dead-center, it did a 90 degree turn to the east and chewed up the north fringes of the city. It struck Lakeview High School and separated the two funnels, one inside the other. One funnel turned back north and blew out thirty miles in the country while the other funnel stayed in tact and struck Waco two hours later--200 miles distant--killing or injuring 200 people.
Out of that storm I conducted my first funeral--my best Sunday school teacher, Lola Todd. We searched hoping for a rescue, but only a recovery, but, I learned a very important lesson--respect for wind storms. As an adolescent, I had seen our garage blown over in Michigan from a cyclonic wind gust, but I had never seen the utter devastation of a large tornado--¾ of a mile wide and on the ground for 9 ½ miles.
I don’t need a second warning to take cover; I’ve seen funnels! I’ve experienced the loss of life, limb, and property that result. Yet today, I see multitudes driving straight into the storm; life is dark and stormy, but like I once was, they see no funnel--consequently no real danger.
“Sin” is like that, creating storms of broken relationships, immoral behavior, failed corporations, even failing nations. Our recent depression has experienced the deceptiveness of anything goes in business, corporate profitability, and Executive greed gone overboard, corrupt politicians. We have all watched the roiling clouds of deception, fraud, white-collar crime, ad infinitum, but no one saw any funnel, so “drive on” we did. Now, we pay the piper for their “sins” and our national greed.
The Old Testament prophet chided Israel for depending upon their religious celebrations, rituals, and fasts. If they wanted their nation healed and peace restored to their land, they must turn back to God: practice social justice for everyone, share with the hungry, shelter the poor homeless, satisfy the needs of the afflicted . . . (Isaiah 58). Jesus saw the funnel in the storm when he said when you do it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me (Matthew 25).
From Warner’s World,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
We spent the rest of the evening watching the reports from OKC-Tulsa and unheard of places like Prague, Boley, even Welty--her birthplace. This morning, when she called her brother, she learned that baby brother (a retired preacher-police chaplain) got caught outside in a hail storm that left him with a head-wound that required 26 staples.
Today I watched our favorite weather forecaster report from WGN-TV and heard his experience with the chase teams viewing the expected battering of Kansas-Oklahoma. I was somewhat amused when he excitedly reported being almost overtaken by funnels that formed directly overhead. They fled for cover, but he proudly acknowledged now being among those select weathermen who have observed a “live” tornado--his first in decades of forecasting from the radar reports.
We actively follow these occasions, especially since baby brother had been very involved in the deadly Moore tornado a few years back.Such episodes recall deep memories, like the day this very young Michigan flatlander stood on the plateau housing Buckley AFB, near Denver, CO. That August afternoon of 1947, I watched the storms forming in Western Kansas--visually counting 13 funnels.
That should have given me pause for concern that afternoon in San Angelo, TX, 1953, when I stubbornly overrode the “hysteria” of my young wife, and proceeded to drive directly toward an approaching tornado. I saw a huge boiling caldron of wind, rain, hail, et al; but no funnel--she needed to get to her piano lesson.
So I drove on in spite of her protests. Having grown up in “tornado alley” she recognized all the signs and had caught sight of the funnel. Fortunately for us, the tornado coming directly at us bounced off the wall of the dam just northwest of the city and changed course. Instead of striking us dead-center, it did a 90 degree turn to the east and chewed up the north fringes of the city. It struck Lakeview High School and separated the two funnels, one inside the other. One funnel turned back north and blew out thirty miles in the country while the other funnel stayed in tact and struck Waco two hours later--200 miles distant--killing or injuring 200 people.
Out of that storm I conducted my first funeral--my best Sunday school teacher, Lola Todd. We searched hoping for a rescue, but only a recovery, but, I learned a very important lesson--respect for wind storms. As an adolescent, I had seen our garage blown over in Michigan from a cyclonic wind gust, but I had never seen the utter devastation of a large tornado--¾ of a mile wide and on the ground for 9 ½ miles.
I don’t need a second warning to take cover; I’ve seen funnels! I’ve experienced the loss of life, limb, and property that result. Yet today, I see multitudes driving straight into the storm; life is dark and stormy, but like I once was, they see no funnel--consequently no real danger.
“Sin” is like that, creating storms of broken relationships, immoral behavior, failed corporations, even failing nations. Our recent depression has experienced the deceptiveness of anything goes in business, corporate profitability, and Executive greed gone overboard, corrupt politicians. We have all watched the roiling clouds of deception, fraud, white-collar crime, ad infinitum, but no one saw any funnel, so “drive on” we did. Now, we pay the piper for their “sins” and our national greed.
The Old Testament prophet chided Israel for depending upon their religious celebrations, rituals, and fasts. If they wanted their nation healed and peace restored to their land, they must turn back to God: practice social justice for everyone, share with the hungry, shelter the poor homeless, satisfy the needs of the afflicted . . . (Isaiah 58). Jesus saw the funnel in the storm when he said when you do it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me (Matthew 25).
From Warner’s World,
walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
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