Brown's Daily Word 9-4-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord that for another day He has granted us, as a gift, grace to live under His authority and in the grip of His grace. Praise the Lord for the Church of Jesus Christ that is militant and triumphant. We have the Word of Jesus our Lord, the head of the Church, and Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, who declared that " Upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell can not prevail against it". He further declared triumphant "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me".
We serve the Risen Saviour and the conquering King. He has triumphed over the grave. He has defeated the enemy. We are called and commissioned to be His ambassadors.
May the Lord make us His instruments of His peace. I'd like to share the following song "Lord, Make Us Instruments of Your Peace".
Song Lyrics
Lord make us instruments of Your peaceWhere there is hatred let Your love increaseLord make us instruments of Your peaceWalls of pride and prejudice shall ceaseWhen we are Your instruments of peaceWhere there is hatredWe will show His loveWhere there is injuryWe will never judgeWhere there is strivingWe will speak His peaceTo the people crying for releaseWe will be His instruments of peace
Where there is blindnessWe will pray for sightWhere there is darknessWe will shine His lightWhere there is sadnessWe will bear their griefTo the millions crying for releaseWe will be His instruments of peace
One of the saints of Jesus and martyrs for Christ, who stood against the oppression of darkness, dared to die for Christ. He said: “First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”SILENCE IS GOLDEN?

There are many times when the old saying is true. Silence is, indeed, golden. There are many times when it is best to remain silent rather than say something that will cause discord or strife or something that you will later be sorry that you said it.
But there are other times when silence is not golden. There are times when we are wrong if we remain silent. If we know someone is innocent and remain silent we are wrong. If we know someone is being misrepresented and remain silent we are wrong. If we know that someone needs to hear what God has to say on a subject and remain silent we are wrong.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 7 - To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: [2] A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted… A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
When is it wrong for a Christian to remain silent?
When is it necessary for a Christian to speak?
I believe we find the answer tucked away in Psalm 40:10
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
We sent some funds to assist some of the victims of the violence in Phulbani. I had a call from one of the families today, the mother of a young man who was tortured and burned to death. She is going through massive grief. Her son left a wife and two young girls behind, ages 12 and 8.
May the Lord continue to bless us as we remain faithful to Him. I'm including some of the news briefs about Orissa, India. Thank you for taking time to pray and care. Please pray for Sunita today as she meets with some people in the State Department in Washington to share about the situation in India. Also, she leaves for South Africa tomorrow.
In Christ
Brown

Home / blogs / Dr. Sajan's blog / VHP activists try to poison drinking water in the relief camps
Cases of poisoning of Drinking Water was reported by two relief camps
• The Relief Camp at Vijoy High School Raikia block, Kandhamal reported that drinking water was poisoned on 3rd September 2008.Fortunately, the poisoning of water was detected in time and confirmed by a doctor just before food was served to the Christians taking refuge in the camp, resulting in their going hungry till 4pm, when alternate arrangements were made to provide potable water.
An attempt to poison the drinking water source of the relief camp in Habaq High School, Relief Camp at G. Udayagiri, Kandhamal was foiled by an alert security guard. Hindutva under VHP extremists climbed on the drinking water tank 9 pm on 2nd September and were caught by the Security guard, even as they were trying to open the lid with a bag containing a poisonous substance to be mixed into the water, to cause a massive killing of Christians together.
Hindutva extremists from VHP are objecting to the Christians "eating at government expense". On Sept 4th a group of nearly 2500 Hindutva extremists barged into the Relief Camp at Tikabali Govt. High School shouted at the Christian refugees and took away supplies meant for the Christian refugees, while police were silent spectators to the event. A group of women instigated by VHP attempted to set afire a relief camp when its inmates were demonstrating near the block office demanding sufficient aid at Tikabali in Kandhamal district.Meanwhile, the Orissa government assured the supreme court of India that no toward incidents would happen in the strife torn Kandhamal and safety of Christians
Home / blogs / Dr. Sajan's blog / Supreme Court tells Orissa govt to protect people
4 Sep 2008, 0147 hrs IST, Dhananjay Mahapatra ,TNNNEW DELHI: The Orissa government’s bland denials of raging communal riots on Wednesday made an angrySupreme Court seek its commitment on oath to provide protection to people and their property in the affected areas. The Centre, meanwhile, said that the BJD-BJP government was under the constitutional scanner.
Acting on Cuttack archbishop’s charge that police was hand-in-glove with the perpetrators and that the state government was a mute spectator, the court asked the chief secretary to file an affidavit on Thursday stating that the administration “will take all steps to protect life and property”.
If the state was asked by the court to file an affidavit to do its primary constitutional duty — protect the life and property of citizens — the Centre issued a veiled warning saying the Naveen Patnaik government was being watched “whether it was discharging its constitutional duties or not”. This assumes significance in the wake of home minister Shivaraj Patil’s inspection of riot affected areas on Wednesday.
If the court sought commitment from the state, it asked the Centre to take proactive steps. “Do not keep a watch only. See if some steps could be taken to bring back normalcy,” it said.
Faced with this observation, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam said, “The home minister is visiting the riot affected areas to see whether the state government is doing enough to protect the people. We are finding out whether the state is carrying out its constitutional duty or not.”
What enraged a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal was the bland denial from state counsel Jana Ranjan Das that “allegations about continuing communal violence are false”.
This met with a strong counter. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath’s counsel Colin Gonsalves told the court that on Tuesday night, a church was destroyed at Daringbadi and nearly 100 houses were torched. Apprehending fresh communal riots, Gonsalves also sought a direction to the state to ban VHP leader Praveen Togadia’s proposed rally on Friday with the ashes of slain religious leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.