Good Morning,
We are confronted during this Holy Season, the world is in uproar. It was three years ago the world witnessed the Tsunami disaster. It was on the 23rd of .
January, 1999 when Graham Stains and two of sons were burned alive in Orissa , India. The situation in Orissa is still very tense; I have been in touch with Christian leaders in Orissa. According to their reports, at least eight people have been killed, of whom three were pastors. Twenty churches have been destroyed by arson. Over 400 houses have been destroyed. The Christians have fled in to hills and mountains for safety. I have enclosed some news bulletins here with, for prayer.
The Christians in some parts of the area are in the churches day and night, praying and fasting. The Lord is hearing their prayer.
The way the Gospel according John opens, is majestic and glorious. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning. …[4] In him was life, and that life was the light of men. [5] The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
… [10] He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. …[12] Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- [13] children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. [14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. [18] No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” John 1:1-2, 4-5, 10, 12-14, 18
John’s Gospel offers nothing naïve…he sees the darkness…but he sees what is equally true…that is, darkness has been enlightened. The Word of God became flesh. It was a great day in our history when a man first walked on the moon. But John reminds us that a far greater event took place when God walked on the earth. For in it WE SEE THE REAL THING.
John’s words capture the deeper storyline; He provides the cosmic treatment which can be laid upon the events of that timeless night.
“WORD” of God
He was preexistent…always and fully God…What has been revealed is not the exception, but the essence of God. “Word” in Hebrew culture is not simply a powerless object in print. The Word is the very agent of creation. Gen 1- The Lord spoke and it came into being.
Ps. 33:6 “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made.”
> So it is, just as God’s Word established the reality of creation…so again the reality of himself in the flesh is a recreating as real as creation itself.
Though our world may reflect the darkness and digression of a world gone wrong…THIS WORD IS A REVELATION OF THE REAL THING. The Word of God…entered a silent night
…yet spoke volumes and still speaks volumes.
This word was spoken in the midst of simplicity and silence…perhaps because our questions are deeper within… because God was and is speaking to the quiet places of our souls…like the pauses of the poet…he uses the quiet backdrop so that we might hear.
Christmas, John makes clear, isn’t simply about God’s visit, but God’s view. It’s the night God put the world into perspective. In the coming of Christ our sentiments are not only given place, they are filled with substance, with reality. It’s the wonderful night to end our deepest wondering. It’s the night that while the world slept, everything changed.
At Christmas, DO WE SENSE THAT OUR WORLD IS NOT FULLY LOST AND LEFT ABANDONED. DO WE SENSE THE PRESENCE OF ANOTHER SPIRIT IN OUR MIDST? A HOPE?
John declares the reality - GOD IS WITH US. In Jesus, our planet is filled with God’s purpose and penetrating presence. Our tiny planet matters to God. It’s filled with His purpose, as the power of God’s Spirit continues the ministry of Christ continues to fulfill that purpose. “Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men” is not just a good Christmas card, not merely a slogan or sentiment, it has substance and reality, for God blessed the earth. He is GOD WITH US.
At Christmas, DO WE SENSE OUR LIVES ARE GIVEN MEANING, THAT WE RISE TO A SENSE IN OURSELVES AND SEE IN OTHERS A GREATER VALUE? John declares the reality - GOD VALUES US. In Jesus, God reveals the reality of human dignity, a worth beyond our merits. God reveals himself not to the super powers, nor to those who did “power lunches”, but a small nation, a peculiar people, a displaced couple, shepherds. IN JESUS GOD DECLARES DIGNITY UPON THE OVERWORKED, OUT OF WORK, to the CEO and those vulnerable to finding merit, the homeless and the helpless.
John declares the reality. GOD WANTS US AS HIS CHILDREN. Do you ever want to be a child again, unburdened, able to be dependent on someone bigger? God says great!…that’s the kind of love he has for us.
Stephen Covey tells the story of a friend whose son developed an avid interest in baseball. As he describes, “My friend wasn’t interested in baseball at all. But one summer, he took his son to see every major league team play one game. The trip took over six weeks and cost a great deal of money, but it became a powerful bonding experience in their relationship. My friend was asked on his return, “Do you like baseball that much?” “No,” he replied, “but I like my son that much.”
So it is that Christmas reveals the reality of a Fathers Love at the heart of the universe. Is. 9:6 “Everlasting Father”
At Christmas, DO WE NOT SENSE WE CAN SEE MORE CLEARLY IN A DARK WORLD, THAT THERE”S A LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS? John declares God’s reality: GOD HAS COME TO GUIDE US through the light of Christ, for “IN HIM WAS LIFE…LIGHT OF MEN.
C.S. Lewis- “I believe in Christ as I believe in the sun. For I not only see it, but by it I see everything else.”
The reality of light and darkness is one of contrast; there is a choice between the two. It is our choice. Christmas is a choice, for embracing reality, embracing light in the midst of darkness.
Ann, along with her two small sons, went to live with her parents in Texas for the duration of World War II, while her Air Force husband was busy in Europe. It was Christmas time and mother and grandparents were making great plans for the boys. The tree was up and decorated. Gifts were bought and hidden away. The excitement, the gaiety, the beauty of the season seemed to push the sorrows and separation of war aside for a time, but only for a time. Just a week before Christmas Day, word came that Daddy would not only be away for this Christmas, but for all the Christmases that were to come; he had been killed in action. Ann went away to her room and closed the door.
Grandpa and Grandma talked quietly and wondered. Finally they decided to set the tree out and take down the decorations, since sorrow had replace their joy. Ann came out of her room after a while and saw the empty space where the tree had been. “Why, Mother?” she questioned. “What have you done with the tree” “Daddy and I set it out. It seemed out of place with you so broken-hearted.” “Oh, but Mother, let’s bring it back in. Christmas was made for such times as these!” “There is a darkness in the earth this Christmas. Deep, thick, black, darkness that would destroy all that is bright and beautiful if given full release. But the light that blazed forth from Bethlehem still shines from the lives of those who believe everywhere, and the only thing that can put it out is rejection. Surely, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness! Shall we keep Christmas this year? Yes, we must keep Christmas this year, for Christ was born for such times as these.
In Christ,
Brown
3 Killed in Hindu, Christian Violence
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ – 2 hours ago
NEW DELHI (AP) — Police in eastern India killed at least three people when they opened fire on a group of hard-line Hindus who set fire to a police station during ongoing clashes between Hindus and Christians, officials said Friday.
The killings, which occurred Thursday in a remote corner of Orissa state, bring the death toll to four since violence broke out on Christmas Eve when long-standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian community erupted over conversions to Christianity.
The Hindus had attacked the police station in the Kandhamal district's Brahmangaon village, complaining of a lack of protection after a group of Christians burned down several Hindu homes in an apparent retaliation for earlier Hindu attacks on churches.
About 19 churches, most of them small mud and thatch buildings, have been ransacked and burned since Monday and several homes destroyed, including that of Radhakant Nayak, a member of India's upper house of parliament and a Christian leader in the area.
The state's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, told reporters Friday that three people were killed in the violence at the police station, but provided no other details.
Patnaik also called for more federal forces to be dispatched to the area after local police and a curfew failed to halt the violence. On Thursday the federal government said it was sending a 300-strong paramilitary force to the region.
At least 25 people, belonging to both Hindu and Christian communities, have been arrested for suspected involvement in the violence, Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol told The Associated Press by phone.
India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Religious minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent, often coexist peacefully.
But throughout India's history, the issue of conversions has provoked violence by hard-line Hindus.
Hindu groups have long charged Christian missionaries with trying to lure the poor and those who occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism's complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.
Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. An Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class in 1999.
There were conflicting reports of what started the violence in the rural district of Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi.
Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of their leaders, who heads an anti-conversion movement.
But Christians said the fighting began when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage conversions.
A Christian-Hindu Clash in India
Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007 By SIMON ROBINSON/NEW DELHI
A bus set on fire by protestors goes up in flames at Baliguda in Phulbani district in Orissa state, India
The violence that has wracked India's eastern state of Orissa over the past few days seems, at first glance, to be purely religious. On Christmas Eve and Christmas day, Hindu nationalists in the Kandhamal area attacked churches and convents and set fire to houses belonging to Christians, killing one person and injuring at least two dozen more. Since then, more than forty Christian houses have been set ablaze despite curfews and increased police patrols. Local Hindus say the violence began after Christians attacked a Hindu leader. Christians say the attacks — the latest in several bouts of religious violence that have plagued the state over the past few years — were sparked by church plans for a performance to celebrate Christmas.
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As with most communal violence in India, this latest explosion of hatred is the result not only of religious differences but of a tangled intersection of political power, communal prejudice and the injustices of Hinduism's archaic caste system.
Orissa is predominantly Hindu, with a small Christian minority. Over the past few years, though, thousands of Hindus have converted to Christianity. Many converts, and the churches they join, say conversion is a way to escape their place in the complex social hierarchy of Hindu caste.But India's right-wing Hindu groups and political parties allege that Christian groups are forcing Hindus to convert against their will, in an effort to change the nature of India. "They want to convert people to Christianity and convert the country into a Christian land," Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), one of India's biggest Hindu nationalist groups, told Indian reporters. "We are opposed to that and that is the source of all disputes and fights." Other low-caste groups and so-called "tribals" — ethnic minorities who stand outside the caste system but have historically been poor and neglected — who benefit from affirmative action programs that reserve for them government jobs and school places, worry that minority Christians may one day receive affirmative action places themselves — diluting their chances of moving up India's social ladder. Groups such as the VHP play on those fears in an attempt to unite India's diverse Hindu population against the Christian or Muslim "outsiders," says Ashis Nandy, a political psychologist and sociologist at India's Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. "If you can identify a common enemy it is easier to unify all these Hindu groups" that, in the view of Hindu nationalists, should "work together to save Hinduism."
One of the hard-liners' main frustrations is the fact that Hinduism is inherently tolerant of other religions and allows that they too could be valid alternative paths to enlightenment. Proselytizing as Christians and Muslims do is, by its nature, un-Hindu, which makes a looming battle for Indians' souls look "very asymmetrical," says Nandy. For Hindu nationalists, the fear of Hindu conversions to Christianity "is a kind of humiliation that is being rubbed in," he says. Ironically, of course, Hinduism's acceptance of other religions is used by extremists as an excuse for hostility towards other religions. "The source of tolerance has become a source of bigotry," says Nandy. Which is why this week's upheaval won't be the last.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Brown's Daily Word 12-27-07
Good Morning.
Merry Christmas. Jesus is born. He is the King of angels, and the Lord of all. The world is now learning of the assassination of the former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. We have also received the news of senseless and barbaric violence against Christians in the State of Orissa, India on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day. The report cites that 12 churches were set on fire. One man was killed. The area of the Phulbani district was completely in uproar. Militant Hindus carrying weapons marched, terrorizing Christians and churches. The Government of Orissa, which is pro-Hindu, is very slow in responding to protect the Christians. I have included some of the news releases in this mail so that you can pray for the situation. May the Lord of Christmas bring about His peace in the hearts of those who love Him and worship Him. May He open the eyes of the blind that they may see His grace and love. In the Gospel according to John we read the astounding declaration that, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.” John 1:14. John 1:16, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” What we need more than anything is grace, God’s grace.
I read about another great example of grace and God’s grace in action.
Every Sunday for the past 9 years members of the Landisville (Pa) Mennonite Church have prayed for a son of their congregation. Every month they send him a small sum of money, and every month some of them visit him. Prayer, money, and visits. These sound fairly typical for a caregiving church. BUT THIS SITUATION IS NOT TYPICAL AT ALL. Far from it. Nine years ago, after a meal with relatives on a calm Sunday afternoon, 14-year-old Keith Weaver killed his parents and his sister. The horror of the crime and the loss of lives rocked the Weavers’ family, the church, and the community to the core.
In the midst of their grief and disillusionment, however, members of the Landisville Mennonite Church got busy. They helped clean the house where the murders occurred, established a legal support committee to care for Keith’s needs so that the surviving brother and sister wouldn’t have to, and founded a “seventy times seven” fund to collect money for his expenses. They studied grief, forgiveness, and victimization in Sunday School and sermons, calling on the expertise of area chaplains and counselors. A year after the tragedy, they held a memorial service to lament the loss of their loved ones and TO RECOMMIT THEMSELVES TO THE JOURNEY OF FORGIVENESS.
Landisville Pastor Sam Thomas said, “Forgiveness is an act of God’s grace. You don’t forgive and forget. You forgive again and again and again.” When I read this story about their forgiveness toward that young 14-year-old murderer I was humbled. Deeply humbled. Strongly humbled to think that they would do such a gracious thing. And praise to the Lord for His mighty grace at work in their lives!
What we need is more grace! More grace from God and more grace working through us to bless the lives of others! When people are touched by the grace of God they become gracious people. They become an actual extension of the grace of God. They do things they would not otherwise do.
Here is God’s grace in action.
- To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
- For the crowd who crucified him, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
- To the thief crucified alongside, Jesus said, “Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
That’s grace in action. And it’s exactly what we all need. Titus 3:4-5, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us - not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”
II Timothy 1:9, Paul speaks of God “who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus.” God’s greatest demonstration of grace is seen in Jesus Christ! WITHOUT JESUS THERE IS NO GRACE! Jesus is the very personification of God’s grace! And His death on the cross was the “greatest show on earth” of God’s grace!
John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12, Peter, speaking of Jesus, said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
People can argue with God and Scripture all they want. God’s Word stands true and will stand the test of time and eternity. Heaven and earth will pass away, but not the Word of God! And people can call us bigots, biased, narrow-minded or whatever, but we still believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and only true Savior of the world!
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.”
“Not by works, so that no one can boast.” Our salvation is not based on how much we do for God and Christ, nor on how much good we do for others in life.
If our salvation was based on our good works, some people would never stop bragging. No one can get into heaven without the grace of God as demonstrated in Jesus Christ! Jesus is the road, the pathway, the door. We are saved by His work, not ours.
Romans 4:7-8, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Why is it that the Lord will never count our sins against us at death nor the judgment? IT’S BECAUSE OF JESUS! And it’s because we’ve put our trust and our hope in Him and Him alone! Our sins are covered by His blood! He bore our sins in His body on the tree! He became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! God’s grace sustains us in this way and we need to learn to walk with our heads held high! And there should some leap in our walk and our talk! We should live a joyous life because we know where we’re headed. AND IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF JESUS!
God’s grace sustains us in another way. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” II Cor. 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No,’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
In a corner of the churchyard of Olney Parish Church there is a large tombstone on which the inscription reads: “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserved, restored and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”
Our friends gave us the movie, Amazing Grace " for Christmas. We are watching it. It is powerful and very moving. John Newton was the son of a sea captain engaged in Mediterranean trade. His mother died when he was 6, and after several years at school, he joined his father’s ship at the age of 11. Immorality, debauchery and failure followed. Rejected by his father and finally jailed and degraded, he later served on slave ships where he incurred the hatred of his employer’s black wife.
He was eventually brought to his senses by reading THE IMITATION OF CHRIST by Thomas a Kempis, the great German preacher of the 13 and 1400’s. He became converted to Christ. At the age of 39 he became a minister of the gospel and was the Pastor of the Olney Church for 15 years. He wrote many hymns and the most familiar being:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
The grace of God can save us but only if we respond to it. The grace of God can sustain us but only if we trust it. The grace of God can sanctify us but only if we surrender to it.
In Jesus,
Brown
Christian body blames govt for attacks
Urges PM for police protection to Christians
Bhubaneswar, December 26
The Orissa unit of the All-India Christian Council today held the state government responsible for the attacks on churches and Christian organisations in Kandhamal district saying the action initiated by the administration was “inadequate”
“The government does not appear to have taken the matter seriously and the slackness on the part of the administration is evident,” organisation’s state unit president, Rev Pran Ranjan Parichha said.
Parichha alleged that Hindu fundamentalist groups had fomented all trouble.
Denouncing and deploring the attacks on particular community in Orissa, church leaders here today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prevent the massacre of the community and desecration of churches in the state.
In a memorandum on behalf of the All-India Catholic Union, the All-India Christian Council and the United Christian Action submitted to the Prime Minister, National Integration Council member John Dayal said the atrocities against the community in the state on December 24 and 25 were fast exploding into the kind of violence seen in the Dangs district of Gujarat during the Christmas of 1998.
Calling the escalating violence and the targeting of Church leaders a well planned conspiracy, he alleged that the main aggression was from the Kui Janakalyan Samiti with its entire attention on driving away the community from the region.
Dr Dayal appealed to the Union government to impress upon the Orissa government to ensure ample police protection to the community, its personnel and the institutions in the state. — PTI, UNI
Cong, Left flay attacks on Christians
New Delhi, December 26
The Congress today condemned attacks on Christians in Orissa and demanded the state government take immediate steps to stop the violence.
“The unfortunate incidents in Orissa are not good for the country, for any civilised society. The Congress demands from the Orissa government that it should take steps as soon as possible to stop the condemnable incidents,” AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.
Asked if the Congress was for an intervention by the National Commission for Minorities in the matter, he said the state government should get some time to normalise the situation.
“If the situation does not normalise, then bodies like the Minorities Commission can be approached,” he said.
“The state government’s report is awaited. Sangh organisations are being named. The BJP is the ruling party’s (BJD) alliance partner and hence fingers can be pointed at the government. So the matter should be looked at carefully,” Ahmed said.
Meanwhile, the CPI and CPM also condemned the “organised attacks” against Christians and asked the state government to take immediate steps to protect the minority community through deployment of adequate security forces and arresting the culprits.
Maintaining that the attacks by VHP and RSS mobs took place on Christmas and the day before, the CPM Politburo said Kandhamal district has been, “for years, the target of communal activities against the Christian community”.
It said the state government and district administration had “failed” to take adequate measures to protect the minority community. — PTI
Attack on churches
Attempt to terrorise a whole community
WHILE the people the world over were celebrating Christmas on December 25, the Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal district were at the receiving end with alleged activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad destroying church after church. In the mindless violence unleashed on the community, one person was killed and several were injured. The attack was ostensibly to retaliate against the alleged manhandling of a VHP leader. That the VHP chose to convert some Christians to Hinduism on that day bears out that the whole purpose was to foment trouble. Orissa is one state where the so-called Freedom of Religion law is in force which makes it obligatory for the organisers of such conversion ceremonies to follow certain procedures. That the VHP has been paying scant regard for such a law on the specious plea that what it organises is not conversion but “home-coming”.
Despite all the potential for mischief, the district authorities failed to take any preemptive action. What’s more, they could not even protect the house of a minister from the communally surcharged lot. It is not the first time that Orissa has witnessed religious tension. The burning of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons was preceded by several incidents of attack on the minorities in the name of protest against cow slaughter and religious conversion. It is the kid-glove treatment those behind such violent campaigns received that emboldened them to burn the missionary who was tending to the leprosy patients in one of the most backward areas of Orissa. There are feudal and pseudo-political forces that do not want the poor to get educated and know their legal and democratic rights for fear it would upset the caste-based social system.
The Orissa government is duty-bound to take stringent action against all those who desecrated the churches. It should also go after those who “attacked” the VHP leader and bring them to book. No excuse is good enough to terrorise a whole community. In fact, any leniency shown will be construed as a failure of the state to protect not just the life and property of the people but also their right to preach and practise their religious beliefs. What the Orissa government does in Kandhamal district will show how committed it is to uphold the rule of law and the religious rights of the people.
Christmas
By Steve Herman
New Delhi
26 December 2007
Herman report - Download MP3 (506k)
Listen to Herman report
Curfews have been imposed in four districts in the Indian state of Orissa after rioters attacked churches, police stations and homes. VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi that the violence started with a fight over Christmas decorations.
Indian police officers stand guard in front of church in Darigibadi, Phulbani district of Orissa, 26 Dec 2007
Officials in Orissa say hundreds of armed security personnel have been sent to the tribal-dominated Kandhamal district, following a rampage that saw the torching of about 12 churches, attacks on police and offices of charitable organizations. At least one person was killed in the violence.
Authorities say a prominent conservative Hindu figure, 80-year-old Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, was attacked on his way to a town where gunfire had broken out over the installation of public Christmas decorations. Hindu mobs took to the streets to protest the assault on the official of the VHP, the acronym for the World Hindu Council. The VHP is active in the area trying to convert Christians to Hinduism.
Media reports say a member of the Kui tribe was hit by a rock and killed when he was caught between clashing Hindus and Christians. About 25 other people have been injured in the escalating violence since Monday.
Vijay Kumar Nayak, who heads the Ashakiran organization, a volunteer group dedicated to conflict resolution in the troubled district, blames authorities for not doing enough to prevent violence.
"I feel really sorry about our government and our police department who cannot control the difficulties and problems. They don't take precautions," said Nayak. "When everything is finished, the destruction is done, houses have burned, churches have burned, Christians are killed, they implement the rules and all that."
On Wednesday, the national Hindu newspaper described the area as a "virtual war zone," which is now under indefinite curfew.
Merry Christmas. Jesus is born. He is the King of angels, and the Lord of all. The world is now learning of the assassination of the former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. We have also received the news of senseless and barbaric violence against Christians in the State of Orissa, India on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day. The report cites that 12 churches were set on fire. One man was killed. The area of the Phulbani district was completely in uproar. Militant Hindus carrying weapons marched, terrorizing Christians and churches. The Government of Orissa, which is pro-Hindu, is very slow in responding to protect the Christians. I have included some of the news releases in this mail so that you can pray for the situation. May the Lord of Christmas bring about His peace in the hearts of those who love Him and worship Him. May He open the eyes of the blind that they may see His grace and love. In the Gospel according to John we read the astounding declaration that, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.” John 1:14. John 1:16, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” What we need more than anything is grace, God’s grace.
I read about another great example of grace and God’s grace in action.
Every Sunday for the past 9 years members of the Landisville (Pa) Mennonite Church have prayed for a son of their congregation. Every month they send him a small sum of money, and every month some of them visit him. Prayer, money, and visits. These sound fairly typical for a caregiving church. BUT THIS SITUATION IS NOT TYPICAL AT ALL. Far from it. Nine years ago, after a meal with relatives on a calm Sunday afternoon, 14-year-old Keith Weaver killed his parents and his sister. The horror of the crime and the loss of lives rocked the Weavers’ family, the church, and the community to the core.
In the midst of their grief and disillusionment, however, members of the Landisville Mennonite Church got busy. They helped clean the house where the murders occurred, established a legal support committee to care for Keith’s needs so that the surviving brother and sister wouldn’t have to, and founded a “seventy times seven” fund to collect money for his expenses. They studied grief, forgiveness, and victimization in Sunday School and sermons, calling on the expertise of area chaplains and counselors. A year after the tragedy, they held a memorial service to lament the loss of their loved ones and TO RECOMMIT THEMSELVES TO THE JOURNEY OF FORGIVENESS.
Landisville Pastor Sam Thomas said, “Forgiveness is an act of God’s grace. You don’t forgive and forget. You forgive again and again and again.” When I read this story about their forgiveness toward that young 14-year-old murderer I was humbled. Deeply humbled. Strongly humbled to think that they would do such a gracious thing. And praise to the Lord for His mighty grace at work in their lives!
What we need is more grace! More grace from God and more grace working through us to bless the lives of others! When people are touched by the grace of God they become gracious people. They become an actual extension of the grace of God. They do things they would not otherwise do.
Here is God’s grace in action.
- To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
- For the crowd who crucified him, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
- To the thief crucified alongside, Jesus said, “Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
That’s grace in action. And it’s exactly what we all need. Titus 3:4-5, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us - not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”
II Timothy 1:9, Paul speaks of God “who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus.” God’s greatest demonstration of grace is seen in Jesus Christ! WITHOUT JESUS THERE IS NO GRACE! Jesus is the very personification of God’s grace! And His death on the cross was the “greatest show on earth” of God’s grace!
John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12, Peter, speaking of Jesus, said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
People can argue with God and Scripture all they want. God’s Word stands true and will stand the test of time and eternity. Heaven and earth will pass away, but not the Word of God! And people can call us bigots, biased, narrow-minded or whatever, but we still believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and only true Savior of the world!
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.”
“Not by works, so that no one can boast.” Our salvation is not based on how much we do for God and Christ, nor on how much good we do for others in life.
If our salvation was based on our good works, some people would never stop bragging. No one can get into heaven without the grace of God as demonstrated in Jesus Christ! Jesus is the road, the pathway, the door. We are saved by His work, not ours.
Romans 4:7-8, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Why is it that the Lord will never count our sins against us at death nor the judgment? IT’S BECAUSE OF JESUS! And it’s because we’ve put our trust and our hope in Him and Him alone! Our sins are covered by His blood! He bore our sins in His body on the tree! He became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! God’s grace sustains us in this way and we need to learn to walk with our heads held high! And there should some leap in our walk and our talk! We should live a joyous life because we know where we’re headed. AND IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF JESUS!
God’s grace sustains us in another way. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” II Cor. 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No,’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
In a corner of the churchyard of Olney Parish Church there is a large tombstone on which the inscription reads: “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserved, restored and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”
Our friends gave us the movie, Amazing Grace " for Christmas. We are watching it. It is powerful and very moving. John Newton was the son of a sea captain engaged in Mediterranean trade. His mother died when he was 6, and after several years at school, he joined his father’s ship at the age of 11. Immorality, debauchery and failure followed. Rejected by his father and finally jailed and degraded, he later served on slave ships where he incurred the hatred of his employer’s black wife.
He was eventually brought to his senses by reading THE IMITATION OF CHRIST by Thomas a Kempis, the great German preacher of the 13 and 1400’s. He became converted to Christ. At the age of 39 he became a minister of the gospel and was the Pastor of the Olney Church for 15 years. He wrote many hymns and the most familiar being:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
The grace of God can save us but only if we respond to it. The grace of God can sustain us but only if we trust it. The grace of God can sanctify us but only if we surrender to it.
In Jesus,
Brown
Christian body blames govt for attacks
Urges PM for police protection to Christians
Bhubaneswar, December 26
The Orissa unit of the All-India Christian Council today held the state government responsible for the attacks on churches and Christian organisations in Kandhamal district saying the action initiated by the administration was “inadequate”
“The government does not appear to have taken the matter seriously and the slackness on the part of the administration is evident,” organisation’s state unit president, Rev Pran Ranjan Parichha said.
Parichha alleged that Hindu fundamentalist groups had fomented all trouble.
Denouncing and deploring the attacks on particular community in Orissa, church leaders here today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prevent the massacre of the community and desecration of churches in the state.
In a memorandum on behalf of the All-India Catholic Union, the All-India Christian Council and the United Christian Action submitted to the Prime Minister, National Integration Council member John Dayal said the atrocities against the community in the state on December 24 and 25 were fast exploding into the kind of violence seen in the Dangs district of Gujarat during the Christmas of 1998.
Calling the escalating violence and the targeting of Church leaders a well planned conspiracy, he alleged that the main aggression was from the Kui Janakalyan Samiti with its entire attention on driving away the community from the region.
Dr Dayal appealed to the Union government to impress upon the Orissa government to ensure ample police protection to the community, its personnel and the institutions in the state. — PTI, UNI
Cong, Left flay attacks on Christians
New Delhi, December 26
The Congress today condemned attacks on Christians in Orissa and demanded the state government take immediate steps to stop the violence.
“The unfortunate incidents in Orissa are not good for the country, for any civilised society. The Congress demands from the Orissa government that it should take steps as soon as possible to stop the condemnable incidents,” AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.
Asked if the Congress was for an intervention by the National Commission for Minorities in the matter, he said the state government should get some time to normalise the situation.
“If the situation does not normalise, then bodies like the Minorities Commission can be approached,” he said.
“The state government’s report is awaited. Sangh organisations are being named. The BJP is the ruling party’s (BJD) alliance partner and hence fingers can be pointed at the government. So the matter should be looked at carefully,” Ahmed said.
Meanwhile, the CPI and CPM also condemned the “organised attacks” against Christians and asked the state government to take immediate steps to protect the minority community through deployment of adequate security forces and arresting the culprits.
Maintaining that the attacks by VHP and RSS mobs took place on Christmas and the day before, the CPM Politburo said Kandhamal district has been, “for years, the target of communal activities against the Christian community”.
It said the state government and district administration had “failed” to take adequate measures to protect the minority community. — PTI
Attack on churches
Attempt to terrorise a whole community
WHILE the people the world over were celebrating Christmas on December 25, the Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal district were at the receiving end with alleged activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad destroying church after church. In the mindless violence unleashed on the community, one person was killed and several were injured. The attack was ostensibly to retaliate against the alleged manhandling of a VHP leader. That the VHP chose to convert some Christians to Hinduism on that day bears out that the whole purpose was to foment trouble. Orissa is one state where the so-called Freedom of Religion law is in force which makes it obligatory for the organisers of such conversion ceremonies to follow certain procedures. That the VHP has been paying scant regard for such a law on the specious plea that what it organises is not conversion but “home-coming”.
Despite all the potential for mischief, the district authorities failed to take any preemptive action. What’s more, they could not even protect the house of a minister from the communally surcharged lot. It is not the first time that Orissa has witnessed religious tension. The burning of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons was preceded by several incidents of attack on the minorities in the name of protest against cow slaughter and religious conversion. It is the kid-glove treatment those behind such violent campaigns received that emboldened them to burn the missionary who was tending to the leprosy patients in one of the most backward areas of Orissa. There are feudal and pseudo-political forces that do not want the poor to get educated and know their legal and democratic rights for fear it would upset the caste-based social system.
The Orissa government is duty-bound to take stringent action against all those who desecrated the churches. It should also go after those who “attacked” the VHP leader and bring them to book. No excuse is good enough to terrorise a whole community. In fact, any leniency shown will be construed as a failure of the state to protect not just the life and property of the people but also their right to preach and practise their religious beliefs. What the Orissa government does in Kandhamal district will show how committed it is to uphold the rule of law and the religious rights of the people.
Christmas
By Steve Herman
New Delhi
26 December 2007
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Curfews have been imposed in four districts in the Indian state of Orissa after rioters attacked churches, police stations and homes. VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi that the violence started with a fight over Christmas decorations.
Indian police officers stand guard in front of church in Darigibadi, Phulbani district of Orissa, 26 Dec 2007
Officials in Orissa say hundreds of armed security personnel have been sent to the tribal-dominated Kandhamal district, following a rampage that saw the torching of about 12 churches, attacks on police and offices of charitable organizations. At least one person was killed in the violence.
Authorities say a prominent conservative Hindu figure, 80-year-old Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, was attacked on his way to a town where gunfire had broken out over the installation of public Christmas decorations. Hindu mobs took to the streets to protest the assault on the official of the VHP, the acronym for the World Hindu Council. The VHP is active in the area trying to convert Christians to Hinduism.
Media reports say a member of the Kui tribe was hit by a rock and killed when he was caught between clashing Hindus and Christians. About 25 other people have been injured in the escalating violence since Monday.
Vijay Kumar Nayak, who heads the Ashakiran organization, a volunteer group dedicated to conflict resolution in the troubled district, blames authorities for not doing enough to prevent violence.
"I feel really sorry about our government and our police department who cannot control the difficulties and problems. They don't take precautions," said Nayak. "When everything is finished, the destruction is done, houses have burned, churches have burned, Christians are killed, they implement the rules and all that."
On Wednesday, the national Hindu newspaper described the area as a "virtual war zone," which is now under indefinite curfew.
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