My dad used to say that he hardly ever had to spank me because if he just looked at me I’d start to cry. That was true for a lot longer than I care to remember. The last time it happened, I was about 14. I decided around that time that I was too old to be brought to tears with a glare. So I worked on myself to react differently when he gave me the evil eye. Also, as I got older, I did fewer things to merit the steely stare.

My parents had trained my sisters and me from very young to respond to a look. If looks could kill, I’d have died a thousand deaths by now. Nonetheless, in retrospect, I believe training a child to respond to a look of disapproval is far preferable to other forms of discipline, like shouting and spanking. It’s a very mild and even subtle form of discipline and one of the advantages is that it teaches children to focus on people’s expressions.

If we could learn to watch people’s faces and body language and respond from those cues, we could save ourselves the humiliation of more severe rebukes like shouts and “spanks.” A spanking for a person our age is any publicly humiliating attempt to modify our behavior being called down in class, fired from a job or even a fight with a friend or boyfriend can be a spanking.

It would be nice if we could avoid humiliation all together by just being wise, but the fact is we’re human! Note that in our proverb that even a woman of discernment is rebuked. We make mistakes; we have character flaws those things don’t work themselves out by the time we’re 20, in fact, they’re just getting started!

Everyone on earth is under some human authority and we can all expect to continue to be critiqued, rebuked and yes, improved, by the authorities over us, both physical and spiritual. Rebuke can even come from people with no authority over us.

The question is not, “How can I avoid being rebuked?” Instead it’s, “In what form do I prefer my rebuke?” If you respond appropriately with just a look, that’s as far as it needs to go. But if you’re not receptive to that, the rebuke will intensify until it is effective all the way to the death penalty.

Most of us don’t need “spankings” to get the point. We get it long before that, but out of arrogance and ignorance, we refuse to accept the message. Our pride doesn’t like to acknowledge, especially to anyone else, that we can actually learn something about ourselves from someone else. But we can, and it doesn’t take a guru to teach us either.

I used to date a guy who smoked. Although a very attractive person, he had scary teeth perfectly straight, but almost hairy from years of accumulated guck from smoking. Early on in our relationship (way before I would have had the chutzpah to tell him that), I took him to a wedding with me. My little brother, then about 10 years old, was also in attendance and sat by us. My boyfriend and brother were chatting before the wedding began and I was looking around to see who else I might know. I overheard my brother say, “Why are your teeth so brown?” I stayed facing the opposite direction as my face turned beet red. I felt humiliated for my boyfriend so I can only imagine what he felt.

About two weeks later I went over to his house one evening. Upon greeting me, he flashed me a big grin showing off his teeth shiny, clean and white! Even a child’s rebuke can make a positive impact in our lives.

The experience of being called on the carpet is humiliating there’s no way around that. Will you suffer that for nothing and line up for more in the future on the same issue? Or will you accept the critique, act on it and improve yourself and your life?

Hold this thought: I don’t have to be told twice!

http://www.onmyownnow.com 2010 Donna Lee Schillinger founded On My Own Now Ministries to encourage faith, wise life choices and Christ-likeness in young adults. She is an author and edits the free monthly e-zine Single! Young Christian Woman. Check out her money blog: http://www.throw-away-your-401k.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS-MAKE A WEBSITE

by ERIC GORSKI

But few are writing obituaries this week for the Christian right, which has been wrongly considered dead after setbacks like the demise of the Moral Majority and crumbling of the Christian Coalition.

White evangelicals remain a large, loyal and organized Republican voting bloc that delivered Tuesday for John McCain but could not offset the battery of factors working against Republicans in 2008.

One pressing question in the wake of Barack Obama’s historic victory is whether the Christian right can grow its own ranks or take positions with broader appeal. Some Republicans believe a tight embrace of social conservative values turns off independents and moderates, but many Christian right leaders resist compromise and contend that, if anything, the GOP has strayed too far from its principles.

Once again, conservative evangelicals engaged in politics find themselves at a crossroads.

“Do they want to be an oppositional force, lambasting the administration at every turn, which can help their organizations raise money?” said Mark Rozell, a political science professor at George Mason University. “Or do they find ways to intersect with new leadership and either try to minimize damage to their agenda or move forward issues where they can find consensus? It’s an important turning point for the movement.”

Exit polls showed McCain carried white evangelicals 74 percent to 24 percent — not far off George Bush’s 79 percent to 21 percent margin over John Kerry in 2004.

Six in 10 white evangelicals ranked the economy as their most important issue — slightly less than the voting population as a whole. One difference that emerged was over terrorism: 14 percent of white evangelicals identified that as their top issue, compared with 7 percent of all other voters.

The exit polls did not ask about abortion or gay marriage, but polls throughout the campaign showed those issues ranked low with voters regardless of religion.

Several Christian right leaders, however, dwelled not on the presidential result but on the success in California, Arizona and Florida of constitutional amendments that, in effect, banned gay marriage. In Florida, however, gay marriage wasn’t enough to tilt the pivotal battleground state to McCain.

Read more…

Source: AP

As part of the annual International Day of Prayer, the hundreds of thousands of Christians expected to participate will pray for God to give strength and protect believers in nations hostile to the Gospel.

India and Iraq, which have been making headlines around the world for the mass persecution of Christians, are among the most urgent prayer topics this year.

In India, over 50,000 Christians have been made homeless by the violence in the eastern state of Orissa with some 30,000 living in refugee centers. The anti-Christian violence – the worst in the country’s 60 year history – has been raging since August and shows no signs of stopping. According to the All India Christian Council, more than 4,500 Christian homes have been burnt, 140 churches destroyed, and 13 Christian schools and colleges damaged over the past few months.

Meanwhile in Iraq, more than 13,000 Christians were displaced in the northern city of Mosul within two weeks in the month of October. The massive exodus in a country where Christians make up only two percent of the population was sparked by a series of murders and death threats by unknown Muslim militants.

Other IDOP-recommended countries of prayer include the Philippines, where Muslim militants angry over a failed government deal to hand over control of a state have attacked Christians in rural areas.

Prayer is also requested for Somalia, where Islamic militants have assassinated some 24 aid workers this year, including a man who was a former Muslim that converted to Christianity. The convert was not just killed, but beheaded in public to strike fear so that people would not leave Islam.

Christians have also been asked to pray for Sudan, where a legislative election will be held by July 2009, when the mainly Christian and animist South could vote to secede from the Islamist military regime in the North.

“Please pray [that] Christians who have been imprisoned for their faith will be release safely,” a Voice of the Martyr IDOP newsletter read. “[And that] new converts may be protected and provided for should their family turn against them.”

Source: Christian Post

By RACHEL ZOLL – AP Religion Writer

While nonwhite Christians voted overwhelmingly for Obama, most white Christians backed John McCain, according to exit polls. Several black clergy said that criticism of Obama by some white Christians over his religious beliefs and support for abortion rights crossed the line, hurting longtime efforts to reconcile their communities.

“I think in the eagerness to protect the right to life issues, there were some things said, not about that issue, that were not always fair and that were insensitive that need to be rethought,” said Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent African-American pastor and founder of The Potter’s House, a theologically conservative megachurch in Dallas. “I would love to see black and white Christians find common ground, and a deeper understanding of each other’s needs.”

The Rev. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the denomination’s flagship school, said white evangelicals backed McCain because of his opposition to abortion rights, not because of the race of either candidate.

“White conservative evangelicals, not just in this election, but in many successive cycles, tended to vote on the basis of moral issues,” Mohler said. “Those evangelicals will still join in celebrating, very eagerly, that America has elected an African-American president and see it as a cause for celebration and recognize its deep spiritual significance.”

According to Associated Press exit polls, 34 percent of white Protestants voted for Obama, while 65 percent went with McCain. Obama won the overall Roman Catholic vote, but white Catholics backed McCain by a slim majority, 52 percent to 47 percent. Among white Christians, the racial gap was most pronounced with evangelicals: 74 percent backed McCain, 24 percent backed Obama.

The pattern is not new and fits the larger trend of white voters overall, the majority of whom voted for McCain. Even so, white Christians were still part of Obama’s winning coalition, drawing millions of their votes. However, the racial gaps stood out at a time when African-American churchgoers exulted in the historic first of Obama’s victory.

Full Story…

Source: AP

This article takes a look at the difference between obedience and legalism in an easy to understand explanation

Legalism defined

Legalism is defined “strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, esp. to the letter rather than the spirit.” –Dictonary.com. Often when we try to be obedient to God’s laws, others will call us a legalist. We must remind them that a legalist is someone who searches to find loopholes in God’s laws and to pervert the intent of His laws for personal gain or comfort. Those who attempt to know the spirit of God’s law and to obey them please God. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes were legalists. They did not strictly adhere to the intent of the law but instead appeared outwardly to adhere to the letter of the law. They added laws in which to adhere, in order that they would appear righteous to themselves and others. Many of their man-made laws were created in an attempt to circumvent the laws of God that they did not want to follow.

“As time passed on the “words of the scribes” were honored above the law. It was a greater crime to offend against them than against the law. The first step was taken toward annulling the commandments of God for the sake of their own traditions (Mark 7:13). The casuistry became at once subtle and prurient, evading the plainest duties, tampering with conscience (Matt 15:1-6; 23:16-23).”—Smith’s Bible Dictionary.

Present day lawyers are a perfect example of this as they take a law and pervert its original intent for their gain or another’s determent. This is what the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes of Biblical time did to the Ten Commandments and the Laws of Moses. We are now able to see by past and present examples the difference between obedience and legalism. We may find by inspection that we too are, in practice, legalists because we do not follow the intent of God’s Law but instead are seeking loopholes or manipulating scripture to match our own wishes.

“It is evident that in New Testament times the scribes belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, who supplemented the ancient written law by their traditions (Mat 23), thereby obscuring it and rendering it of none effect. The titles “scribes” and “lawyers” (q.v.) are in the Gospels interchangeable (Mat 22:35; Mark 12:28; Luke 20:39).”—Easton’s Illustrated Dictionary.

Once we are able to distinguish the difference between God’s law, that He leads our spirit to obey, and our own deceptive thoughts we will find that God’s way is better for us. In the end, we all will be guilty of sin before God but what will be determined is whether we will receive punishment for our sins or whether Jesus Christ has already received the punishment for us because we accept that He did. This has nothing to do with how many times we sin but instead on the faith that Jesus already paid for every one of our sins.

So in this, do we find any reason that we should not obey every command God makes aware to us? We do not. God draws us all to obey His commands out of love. In this, we request His mercy and grace to allow Jesus to take the penalty for every rebellion against His law through out our lives. Our obedience to God’s commands in no way will contribute to our salvation because even one sin that we have committed in our lives carries the penalty of death and cannot be covered by any action of our own. Only the blood of Jesus or our own blood in death is enough to pay the penalty of our sin.

Jesus said, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 5:20 (NKJV). By this Jesus was not saying that the scribes and Pharisees were righteous but that they were not. It is also saying that without Jesus’ righteousness in our stead we cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven.

We are not “under the law” because God’s grace helps us want to obey the law in our spirits. God’s mercy gives Jesus to pay the penalty of our transgressions. He gives us His righteousness in place of our own unrighteousness. This does not mean that those chosen by God for salvation do not have a duty to learn and obey God’s laws. This does mean that out of thanksgiving to God for His mercy and grace we do search out His laws and obey them.

Before we are saved, we may know some of the commands of God and done them, naturally or purposefully. After we are saved, we have a desire to seek God and to know all His commands for our life. We joyfully obey them, knowing our actions will not bring us salvation but instead that our actions will honor God. In this way, we thank Him for His redemptive action on our soul. Wanting to know and obey God’s commands due to a leading to be faithful and from selfless joy is not legalism.

We are not “under the law” because God gives us the faith to seek after love and obedience. When we love God we admit our sins, hate them and turn from them back to obedience to God (Psalm 51:3-4; Joel 2:13). If we rebel and refuse to obey the laws God presents to our hearts and minds we will likely find ourselves to be restless, uncomfortable, and depressed. God hopes we will obey Him because if we do not we will find it difficult to communicate and spend time with God. God wants to be in our lives and to have nothing that will keep us apart from Him.

One priest, who asked not to be named for fear of “reprisals”, said he was carrying out at least one exorcism a fortnight. More requests for exorcisms came from the Gold Coast than anywhere else.

An exorcism involves holy water, sacrament and Bible reading and can go on for many hours, the priest said. Linda Blair made the subject famous in the 1973 film, The Exorcist.

“Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one’s mental and emotional life,” he said. “Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued by disturbances. They hear voices and see hideous creatures in their sleep.

“There has been a recruitment of pagan practices, and it’s sheer poison.

“The Gold Coast is not good at all. I do far more exorcisms there than Brisbane.”

The Catholic Church has vowed to “fight the devil head-on” by training hundreds of priests as exorcists. Bishop Brian Finnigan, acting head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, said it was important for the church to carry out exorcisms.

To read more, go to Sunday Mail

The advertisement is being aired on the country’s main TV channel to promote youth channel Plug TV.

The Catholic Church says this sort of portrayal of Jesus is disrespectful to believers and that it is wrong to use him for advertising.

However, Plug TV denies that the advertisement is blasphemous.

‘Number one dad’

The ad shows a long-haired hippy Jesus grooving along as he tries to get into a nightclub and is refused entry by the bouncers.

Jesus makes the sign of the cross and sweeps aside the bouncers, shrinking them so they are left in his wake as dwarves.

This Plug TV version of Jesus then drinks whisky at the bar and magically turns two brown haired frumpy women into blonde babes wearing bikini tops and red horns.

The Jesus character then disappears into a huge limousine with the women but his attention is distracted by an advertisement for Plug TV before he is recalled by God who is standing on a cloud, wearing a T shirt with “Number one dad” written on it.

The God figure tells Jesus off for wanting to watch Plug TV as well as everything else – saying “you still want more”.

The Catholic Church has expressed its disapproval to the TV channel – saying advertising is not the same as journalism and should not share the same concerns about freedom of expression.

The Church believes this advertisement “crosses the limits of respectability”.

Plug TV however argues it is not blasphemous but contains a message about a “laid-back Jesus addressing youth”.

Source: BBC News

The issues have already fractured the global Anglican church and its liberal-leaning U.S. Episcopal branch, and threaten both with outright schism.

The bishops of the U.S. church meet in New Orleans for six days beginning Thursday, including two days with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the 77-million-member Worldwide Anglican Communion, as the global church is called.

At the top of the agenda is a “request” issued by the presiding Anglican bishops meeting in Africa earlier this year that the 2.4-million-member U.S. church, by September 30, clearly renounce the blessing of same-sex marriages and make it clear it will not allow more non-celibate gays to become bishops.

The U.S. church in 2003 consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop known to be in an openly gay relationship in more than four centuries of church history.

That not only caused dissension and defection within the U.S. church but riled defenders of traditional Christianity in African, Asian and Latin American congregations that now account for half of the world’s Anglican followers.

And it left Williams with an increasingly difficult task of keeping the loose federation of Anglicans under one tent without alienating the U.S. church whose wealth gives it power far beyond its numbers in Anglican operations worldwide.

The Episcopalians have never issued a pronouncement for or against the blessing of gay unions, although the practice is common in some congregations. At its general convention in 2006, the U.S. church adopted a resolution urging congregations to “exercise restraint” in elevating anyone to bishop whose “manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church.”

‘MORE TROUBLE’

“They are going to stay their course,” the Rev. David Anderson, head of the orthodox-espousing American Anglican Council, said of the bishops. “They believe they are right. It will get them into more trouble.”

In fact the U.S. church’s Executive Council said in June that the presiding bishops who issued the communique in Africa had no authority “to impose deadlines and demands” on anyone. The bans they wanted, it said, can come only from the U.S. church’s triennial gathering of clergy and lay leaders, which next meets in 2009.

Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicans are organized as a federation of national churches without hierarchical lines of authority, though the Archbishop of Canterbury holds a first-among-equals leadership position.

David Virtue, who backs orthodoxy in a widely read online newsletter, said in a commentary the Episcopal bishops have the power themselves to ban both gay bishop elevations and same-sex union blessings, and not doing so now “could doom the church.”

He suggests that hundreds of orthodox Episcopalians leave the church every week, many placing themselves under the jurisdiction of conservative bishops from Africa who have been installing bishops loyal to them in the United States.

The Episcopal Church, however, says only 32 congregations have actually left and an additional 23 have voted to leave — out of more than 7,600 congregations in 110 dioceses in the United States and 15 other countries.

Conservatives have already made plans beyond New Orleans, with a meeting scheduled in Pittsburgh next week under the auspices of the Anglican Communion Network to try to organize orthodox North American Anglicans.

Peter Frank, a spokesman for the network, said the House of Bishops “can do what it has been requested to do, or it can continue to go its own way. There really isn’t a third option on the table.”

Source: Reuters

Re:zound, a Christian rock band from Mesa, Arizona, received permission from the Vietnam government to play their music in public on March 21 and 22, 2007. The concert has forever changed cultural history in this communist nation. Re:zound was required to audition before Vietnam government officials just to get permission to play their music. After much hesitation, resistance, and hours of deliberation, the government finally agreed to allow Re:zound to perform. Thousands of Vietnamese people received Jesus Christ as their savior, and the concert was televised live nationally to millions more via the government controlled television network over two nights.

Vietnam is a communist country that does not allow their people to freely worship God. The government has control over everything their people do, and attempts to influence what they believe as well. Over 10,000 people were able to worship God in public for the first time ever and heard the gospel of Christ!

Visit http://www.verticalshiftrecords.com/rezoundasia2007.html to see the amazing video footage of history in the making. The video is filled with messages from the Vietnamese people on how it touched their lives, and it is a reminder to all Americans how blessed we are to have the opportunity to worship freely.

Re:zound is a worship band from the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona and signed with Vertical Shift Records. The band is known internationally for their powerful missions and their purpose, and has performed for hundreds of thousands of people in India, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They will be continuing their mission this fall with a tour of China, which also must be approved by the communist government there.

For more information about Re:zound please call: (480) 837-7771 or www.verticalshiftrecords.com

SOURCE: Free Press Releases

Christians across the UK are getting daily bible verse SMS text messages to their mobile phones thanks to pray4u.co.uk who have organised a special bible verse text message service. ‘Mobile phones are no longer the preserve of silly ringtones, we have managed to start using them for spreading God’s word,’ said a spokesman for pray4u.co.uk.

The daily bible verse SMS service uses a modern translation of the bible and is sent out every morning to help people through their day. The timing of the Christian SMS text message is slightly different every day, so that Christians can receive the Word of God unexpectedly.

‘We find it amazing how exciting it is to receive a text message and discover it is an SMS from God!’

www.pray4u.co.uk is an online ministry that bases its work on the edict in Colossians4 : ‘Don’t be weary in prayer; keep at it; watch for God’s answers and remember to be thankful when they come.’ Every day their prayer request website is used and the team of prayer warriors pray for the people who have submitted prayers. ‘We advertise pray4u in unusual places and try to reach people who don’t otherwise know about God, Jesus and the power of prayer.

To receive the daily bible verse sms text messages in the UK, just text DBV to 89892

To stop receiving the daily bible verse sms text messages just send STOP DBV to 89892

Each daily bible verse sms text message costs just 25p.

Source: Free Press Releases