Posted on 06/20/2006 8:09:37 PM PDT by SirLinksalot
LOL!!! We must share kinfolk!!
Nicely put!
I cannot think of a single Christian confession which has not complained about being misunderstood, persecuted or abused. And I do not doubt the sincerity of such claims.
But I usually respond by pointing to the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ tells us we should rejoice and be exceedingly glad when we are falsely accused and persecuted for His sake. Our reward in heaven is great when this happens!
So be joyful and get back to the Master's vineyards! After all, the things which really matter are to love God absolutely and to love our fellow man unconditionally.
LOLOLOL! Thank you so much for the encouragement!
The situation in China is dire. Here is an excerpt from a speech given by Joseph M. C. Kung, President of The Cardinal Kung Foundation, presented to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, read the whole thing here:
http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/032502/kungRmks.php
Room SD 215 Dirksen Senate Building
1st/Constitution N.E.
Washington, D.C.
March 25, 2002
"Ladies and Gentlemen:
When I entered this country forty-seven years ago in 1955, China was a young communist country. At that time, the communists were throwing the bishops, priests and their faithful into jail and labor camp.
Forty-seven years later, China is still a communist country. China is still throwing the religious believers into jail and labor camp by thousands. Although China has changed by opening its door to the outside world, the persecution of religious believers has never stopped. This persecution has recently become so bad at a time when China is making significant economic progress, at a time when China has joined World Trade Organization, and at a time when China professes fighting terror, while it continues to create its own terror among its own religious believers.
Since late 1999, the government of China has destroyed 1,200 churches in one eastern province alone. An 82 year old priest, Father YE Gong-Feng was savagely tortured to unconsciousness and Father LIN Rengui was beaten so savagely that he vomited blood. Underground Catholic seminarian Wang Qing was tortured for three days, being suspended by his wrists, beaten, and forced fed with contaminated liquids that caused severe injury and illness. Catholic priest Hu Duo suffered broken legs in police beatings. Even a 12 year old girl could not escape the brutality. She told the interrogators that she had become a liturgy lector. As a result, she was beaten so savagely that she had to be hospitalized.
There is a tiny village called Dong Lu in Hebei. In that village, there is a shrine for the Blessed Mother. Each year, tens of thousands of pilgrims visited this shrine from all over China. However, in May 1996, 5,000 Chinese soldiers, supported by dozens of armed cars and helicopters, destroyed and leveled that shrine. The government confiscated the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and arrested many bishops and priests. Bishop Su Chimin, the underground bishop of this shrine, was arrested at least 5 times in the past and had already spent approximately 26 years in prison. He disappeared after he was last arrested in October, 1997. We do not even know if he is dead or alive. The auxiliary bishop of this shrine, Bishop An Shuxin, was last arrested in May, 1996. He has been in prison for the last 6 years. We do not even know where he is. The pastor of this shrine, Father Cui Xingang, was also arrested 6 years ago in May, 1996.
There are approximately 50 bishops in the underground Roman Catholic Church. Almost every one of them is either arrested, or under house arrest, or under strict surveillance, or in hiding, or on the run. For instance, Bishop Jia Zhiguo, Bishop of Zhengding in Hebei, was just arrested 5 days ago. We do not know where he is."
The accurate information regarding China, the Middle East, India and even parts of Africa is out there.
good advice. Thanks
[Fine!... I am not.. thankfully enmeshed in either..]
Obviously.
I haven't many chances to be scary. I didn't know I had it in me. LOL.
Not long ago a well intending lad commented to me"Jesus will return, again."
I glanced back and said, "Yeah, I know and it about time he did." You should have seen the look on his face.
LOLOL TXnMA! Don't write off that "ceremonial window dressing." There's more to it than meets the eye: It goes to profound insights and understandings and generally tends to involve the whole person, body and soul.... The Church ministers to the whole person, and does not at all disdain a person's sensory and emotional experiences, especially as these confirm the individual spiritually in Christ.
So don't "laugh" at the incense!!! Or the stained glass, the chants, or the sculptures! All aim at the glory of God made present to the open, wondering, loving soul.
Quite an invention too.. quite destructive.. Take the mask(s) off and all christians look and are the same.. If indeed they are christians at all..
So very true. For one, it's the painting, the stained glass, the liturgy that moves him to worship God --- for another it is the singing of hymns and the fellowship of other believers --- for another, it's a sunrise or when a newborn grabs his finger.
I guess "the church" means the various Protestant denominations. Brazil has been Christian for the last, what, 500 years?
Well whereas I don't agree that all denominations were inventions of the devil - though one might wonder about such as the "heaven's gate" suicide cult - I do agree, when our denominational masks are removed, we are all just simply Christian underneath.
Luv it!
Yes, and all magnificent gifts of the Lord, all praise and thanks be to Him, Who draws us to Himself individually according to each of our own ways and predilections -- which He very well knows in every case.
Some people seem to be drawn to excellent engineering designs, others to poetry, others to horse breeding, whatever. Et cetera. The Truth of God is the very foundation of all these things. And He has a way of reaching every soul -- at least those that are not thoroughly dammed up to His "advances," in advance -- by the Grace of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord of Life speaks every language known to man, even those languages which man has not conceived yet. Who has ears to hear should listen to His Word.
And as you so truthfully say, the Lord's palette is made up of many colors: For what could be said, if all were blended into a single gray mass of gloppy pigment?
Thank you ever so much for writing, Alamo-Girl! May God ever bless you, my dearest sister in Christ.
Thanks for this. Very encouraging. I have read Cindy Jacobs' book, "Possessing the Gates of the Enemy" and she is quite an asset to the Body of Christ.
Thanks for the ping, Quix.
jm
Never left buddy...never left....only he needs to be discovered again...where he always was...once there is that realization, then peace reigns. Though, I'm not a big fan of peace personally. Bad for the economy.
So...you know the rules...where are the pics of the hot Brazilian chicks?
I have had few religous experiences that exceed those I have had in fellowhip with fellow Christians who, organizationally or liturgically, differ from me.
I happen to feel led to worship and serve regularly with a large congregation of Baptists of a conservative (surprise!) bent. OTOH, for instance, I also look forward to joining my great aunt and her small Church of Christ congregation for their (quarterly, a capella, shaped-note, laypeople-led, all-evening) "singings".
And I treasure the fellowship of the many business trips I shared with a Catholic professional colleague -- at the time in our lives when we both were committing ourselves to lifetimes as Deacons (literally, "servants") and looking forward to ordination as such by our respective churches.
~~~~~~~~~
Hosepipe, I understand that those of a superficial bent can fixate on the differences between "denominations" and can sometimes magnify those differences into near hatred. Perhaps they need a "wire-stripping" experience...
Beautiful said and very wise, my dearest sister in Christ!
Wire-stripping! What an excellent metaphor! Thank you - and especially thank you for your testimony.
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