Sunday, November 16, 2014

GOOD STUFF--THE SOUND OF JOY--ABSOLUTE REFINEMENT . . . MISSOULA MONTANA GETS PERFECT SCORE IN NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STUDY! 157 GIFT-FILLED BOXES TO BRIGHTEN CHRISTMAS FOR THE NEEDY YOUTHS IN FLATHEAD COUNTY . . . A TASTE OF HOME! KING OF KINGS, WE NEED A MIRACLE . . . THE CONFINED ARE SET FREE, IN JESUS NAME, IN JESUS NAME! THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT INJUSTICE IS THAT GOD IS AGAINST IT! BUT WE STILL NEED TO BE HIS HANDS, HIS EYES, HIS FEET AND HIS MOUTH TO FREE THE CAPTIVE! THE INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION IS A WAY TO TAP IN AND HELP OUT ACROSS THE WORLD . . . RISE UP AND CARRY YOUR CHILDREN ON YOUR SHOULDERS . . . WOULD TO GOD ALL MEN WERE PROPHETS! GET OUT OF YOUR STERILE WORLDS, AND SAVE THIS PLANET! PEACE IS POSSIBLE!

The Great Convergence

The national Human Rights Campaign gave Missoula a perfect score of 100 points for inclusion of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people in its municipal laws and policy.  The study is based on 47 criteria that fall under six broad categories.  They are: non-discrimination laws, relationship recognition, municipality's employment policies, inclusiveness of city services, law enforcement and municipal leadership on equality matters.  Awesome, that is beyond impressive, not only are these people members of this city, state and national and entitled to full rights, fellowship and friendship, under the law, but to not afford them all that all citizens of this country are entitled to, violates, the 14th amendment, due process and equal protection, along with uniform operation of law!  Way to go Missoula, a perfect score is way cool!  Mayor John Engen and your city council, should be congratulated and emulated!  Good job!

Stillwater Christian School students will  make a brighter Christmas for 157 children around the world with gift-filled shoe boxes.  Kindergarten through eighth grade students participated recently in Operation Christmas Child, a program of the nondenominational evangelical Christian nonprofit called the Samaritan's Purse.  Students also raised $700 to help cover shipping costs.  This is when to get the kids, to make them caring, loving, serving and involved adults, who share their blessings of prosperity in this country, with less fortunate kids, throughout the world, who are lucky to get food at night.  Kudos to the adults, the program, and all who are giving the gift of love, to children all over the world . . . we are all children of the same God, with the same Savior . . . and it is more blessed to give than to receive!

Children of God . . . Common Traits

Last night at the Samaritan House, a vivacious, outgoing, and fun group of young adults, came from a church, to serve a great dinner, share conversation, and generally engage in a great evening.  As more young people, came to serve, that are even staying at the transitional housing shelter, I thought, having had several other groups, of equally serving, caring and sharing young people, and I am sorry I don't know which churches they were from, since there are a ton of them in Kalispell, and new churches cropping up all the time, which is a great sign of the atmosphere of the community, but I thought, wow, there is no difference from one church group of kids, or young adults, from another, and they remind me of the Mormon youth from Utah, being more familiar with them than others . . . so as the young people finished their service, and came a joined us in sharing the evening, I asked them, what church they were from, having had little contact with the Mormon Church since I have been in Montana for the last, 2 or so years; and one of them said, we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!  No wonder they reminded me of the kids back home in Utah!

I know that I am often mad, criticize, and bash Mormons and Utah, but that is in the political arena, not the religious side of the Utah equation.  There always needs to be a separation of church and state!  If you lump state and church into one, there is a chance as political differences, systems, and preferences rage, the tender testimonies of your youth and children, are not confused one with another, and can hold to the truths of their faith, believing in Jesus Christ and God the Father, without, getting that tangled up, with politics as usual . . . you know the old saying, don't discuss politics and religion with family and friends! And there is a damn good reason for that!  But is was fun, knowing the comings and goings, the foundations, idiosyncrasies, insider jokes and stories, having been raised in a common denomination, starting at a common place of understanding.  I love the youth of any church, I find them open, teachable, willing to change, and thus, very refreshing, and the group last night were no different. 

Older Generation, Not Allowed to Enter the Promised Land . . . Why?  Think About It!

This morning at Fresh Life Church, Pastor Levi was talking about Moses & the Children of Israel, either be allowed, or not allowed to enter the Promised Land, and those people who were alive at the time Moses, led them out of Pharaoh's chains, and who made the golden calf, and partied while Moses was on the mount with God, getting the 10 commandments, were not allowed to enter the promised land, and they were marched around in a circle in the wilderness, until every last on of the old guard, or the parents, die and were buried in the spot they dropped in, and for Moses' anger, he also was not allowed into the promised land, but the kids of these people were, even though they complained a bit, Joshua and Aaron, were allowed to lead them to their destination of a land of milk and honey!  Unless you become as a little child, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, or symbolically you can't enter into the Promised Land, with Moses, being a prototype of Christ, leading God's people to their inheritance.

We as adults, can't be so entrenched in our prejudices, discriminatory thoughts, and exclusive behaviors to become unworthy of entrance into the land of milk and honey, so to say, or the Kingdom of God.  When God, says, Judge not, that yea be not judged; love your neighbor as yourself; love the Lord your God, and your fellowmen, he means it!  Most of the revolutions in the world, come from the youth, and all that I have seen, generally are getting to or striving for something better or higher than the generation before them.  I know that we consider the Golden Generation as the greatest generation, and they did many great things, but I would say, they were more of a physical nature, buildings, bridges, businesses, but the kids today, are open minded, and getting closer to the ideals of the Good News of the Gospel of Christ, and of the ideals set forth in the U.S. Constitution, the Preamble, creating a more PERFECT UNION!  And that is why we need not look to the past, or we may turn into a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife, and look forward, with a bright light and belief in a better tomorrow, reaching tolerance and love, unknown to mankind, ever at any time in history.

Young Pastor Introduces Me to International Justice Mission--Thanks

The author of the book, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World, by Gary A. Haugen, the president and CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM), a human rights organization based in Washington, D.C.  Prior to founding the IJM, he worked in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice and was director of the United Nations' genocide investigation in Rwanda. Haugen is a graduate of Harvard University and received a J.D. or law degree, from the University of Chicago.  He is also the author of Terrify No More and Just Courage.

In 1996, one year before IJM became operational, several colleagues and Haugen, asked seventy Christian ministries serving globally in missions and relief and development to be the church's eyes and ears in the world.  These ministries represented tens of thousands of Christian workers in more than a hundred countries.  When asked in our survey, every single ministry indicated that they had workers serving in communities where people suffered injustice and abuse in circumstances where local authorities could not be relied on for relief.  These seventy ministries named the following categories of injustices as the most widely observed:
  • abusive child labor
  • abusive police or military
  • child pornography
  • child prostitution
  • corrupt seizure or extortion of land
  • detention or disappearance without charge or trial
  • extortion or withholding of wages
  • forced prostitution
  • forced migration
  • genocide murder of street children 
  • organized racial violence
  • public justice corruption
  • state, rebel or paramilitary terrorism
  • state-supported discrimination or abuse of ethnic minorities
  • state-sponsored religious persecution
  • state-sponsored torture
Of course these are just words on a list.  It took the stories from those Christian workers to give them meaning.  The book is great, and will raise your social, ethical, humanitarian and Christian determination to see that these things are changed.  You only know what you know, so learn and make a difference, PLEASE!

The Bible Declares the World's Need For Salvation & Justice

The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths . . . no one who walks in them will know peace.  So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us.  We look for light, but all is darkness.  (Isaish 59:8-9)

This is a quote from the book, page 63, Biblical Christians understand that Christ has called us to be his witnesses to the uttermost parts of a very dark world--a dark world of injustice.  Preparing our minds for action in the world means coming to grips with the notion that the world we are sent into as salt and light is a world that needs salt and light precisely because, among other things, it is full of the corruption and darkness of injustice.  All those old Scriptures about the world, which always seemed rather melodramatic when I [Haugen] heard them in my suburban church as a kid, turned out to be much more worthy of my attention than I ever knew.

There is Uncommon Courage for Common Christians:  The Gift of God's Word, can do much to curb the abuses, violence, torture, theft, and death, in this dark world.  You can find this organization on the Internet, and get involved, if you find it in your heart to do.  I know that many of you are concerned about the streets in America, with exactly the same problems.  I don't think God cares where you serve, he just cares that you do, in deed, serve your fellow men, women and children, in whatever way, means, and funds you can.  I guess the charge is, Just do something . . . 

Movie I Watched, Free on YouTube, Child Slavery & Prostitution . . . Something Garden?

Anyway, the title of the movie is not important, but the message was, startling and different, with many of the issues, brought up above, again, I am not mentioning this by way of criticism, just in bringing awareness, so those readers will be more aware, and do anything they can, to further the fight against injustice both in America and in the world at large.  In this movie, a cute, upper middle class, blonde, blue eyed, little girl, was kidnapped, and put into child pornography and prostitution.  She was told that her parents didn't want her, and these new guys were told by her father to take care of her, allegedly working for him.  She is taken far from home, and there is a young black boy, who is also inducted into this prostitution and pornography ring. 

The two children become fast friends, turning to stories and fantasy, to escape the terrible conditions of their captives, making tents, paper animal cut outs of stories, and learning to rely on each other as family and for survival.  The story skips, after showing the horrors of the life they are forced into, to a point, where both teens are out on their own, and still as deep of friends as they can possibly be, still living on the streets, and pimping themselves out, but living in a dangerous world, of drugs, money, and street life, with all the violence, threats, and dangers.  Eventually, the young girl, visits a shelter, and leaves her long time brother/co-captive/survivor . . . at the shelter, John Malcovich, is the counselor, and he questions the girl about her background, and then shows her a picture of her picture as a missing child, and told her, that her parents were not dead, that they looked and looked for her.  She breaks down in tears, and wonder if her parents will want her after everything that she has been through . . . he assures her they will.

In the next scene, a social worker takes her home, her parents welcome her with open arms.  She also learns that she has two new siblings, that her parents decided to have, to replace her, or fill the void.  It is Christmas time, she looks at this mother, father, and their two young children, and you could almost see from the look on her face, that she just knew, that she had seen too much, done too much, and she almost looked at them in their naive, almost childlike state, of complacency, worried only about their children, their concerns, and getting Christmas presents.  There is a look of disgust in a way.  Where you can see, that it is not them who needed to accept her, that was easy, they were so simple.  But, rather it was her, who needed to accept them, and she could tell, that she was, so far beyond, or so distant, from the reality of their little sterile world, worrying only about their immediate needs, and that of their family.  She goes up to the bedroom and gets her jacket, leaves, and goes to find, the only real family she had, the black young man, who loved her and understood what she had been through, even went to it to.

We Need to Get Out of Our Little Sterile Worlds, And Bring Light Into a Dark and Scary World, That Can Be So Much Kinder, So Much Safer for Everyone, and It is Love for All our Fellowmen, that will Do It!

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