Brown's Daily Word 9-8-08

Praise the Lord.
Jesus is Lord. He reigns. He rules. He hears our prayer. He hears our cries. He comes down to be with us. He is a man of sorrows acquainted with our grief. By stripes we are healed.
The Lord blessed us with a beautiful week. Janice, Jeremy, Micah, and Simeon spent a few days with us, as did our friend Linda. We took Micah and Simeon to Taughannock Falls State Park for a morning walk on Friday. This was the first visit to Taughannock for Micah and Simeon. Simeon got his first hair cut on Saturday; he looks all grown up.
Sunita has safely arrived in South Africa. She has written to us that she is doing well. Laureen will be starting her new job at Lourdes today.
It was a great blessing to be in the Lord's house yesterday worshipping Him with His people. Our friend, Rev. Sushant Naik, one of the leaders from Phulbani, Orissa, the epicenter of persecution of Christians, spent the week with us. He shared during the Sunday School hour yesterday. 50 thousand Christians could not go to a church building in Orissa yesterday. Their church buildings have been burned and destroyed by the Hindu Militants. In the midst of the sufferings of His saints we turn our hearts to the Lord. May the Lord of the church make us steadfast and faithful to Him. May we become relentless in serving Him, for He is worthy of all our praise. A story is told of a woman took her husband to the doctor. After the exam, the doctor said privately to the woman, "Your husband is suffering from a serious illness. But there is hope. You just need to reduce his stress. Do all the cooking. Do all the cleaning. Never yell at him. And most importantly... do whatever he asks you to do. If you can do this for your husband for the next 12 months, I think your husband will make a complete recovery. But if you don’t do this, he’s going to die. Later on, the husband asked, "What did the doctor say?" His wife replied, "He says you’re going to die!" If the truth be told, there’s a 100% chance that someday, we’re ALL going to die. Rick Warren, in his book "The Purpose Driven Life "; writes, "Today the average life span is 25,550 days. And so one of the things we need to do while we’re alive is to discover WHY we’re alive! What is God’s purpose for my life? Why did He put me on this earth? What does He want me to do with the years He has given me? In his book "The Purpose Driven Life", Rick Warren elucidates that we are shaped to serve the Lord. We are saved to serve the Lord. Augustine said, "O Lord, Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee." The book of Ecclesiastes wrestles with all these questions. Solomon is saying “There has to be more to life than working and partying. There has to be more to life than saving all your money so that you can die and leave it for someone else. The main theme of Ecclesiastes is that life is meaningless without God. And it takes Solomon all of two verses to figure it out. In Ecclesiastes 1:2, he says “Meaningless, Meaningless, utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” The Hebrew word translated ‘meaningless’ appears in Ecclesiastes 35 times. It refers to the fruitlessness and the futility of all human enterprise and endeavor apart from God. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, you can feel Solomon’s frustration as he tries to figure out the meaning of life. In Ecclesiastes 1:8, Solomon says, "All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time." Then, in chapter two, he tries to find meaning in life by experimenting with earthly pleasures. He says "I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." I tried cheering myself with wine.... I undertook great projects. I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I amassed silver and gold for myself. And then he goes on to say in verse 11 “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” In other words, Solomon expressed the same thing that so many alive today would say, "I’ve done everything possible to fill the hole in my life. And the hole is still there! I feel so empty on the inside! Something’s missing from my life!" The apostle Paul felt the same way before he was saved. In Philippians 3, he talks about all the cool things that happened to him before he became a Christian. But then, beginning in verse eight, he says “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Paul is saying “I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life. But nothing is more satisfying than having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! Nothing is more wonderful than knowing the Creator of the universe and having His resurrection power in my life!” Likewise, after years of futility and frustration, Solomon finally discovers the meaning of life, and he shares it with us in chapter 12. In Ecclesiastes chapter 12:1, he says “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” The word for remember means “to recall something so that you continually keep it in the forefront of your mind.” The same word is used in Psalm 63:7, where it says “On my bed I remember you. I think of you through the watches of the night.”Solomon is saying “I want you to remember the Lord so that you will continually be thinking about how you can serve Him with your life.” And Solomon says “Remember your Creator before the days of trouble come.” Some people ignore God for 35 years, and then when something bad happens, all of a sudden, they say “Oh, God! I need you so much! You have to help me get out of this situation!” And Solomon is saying “Remember the Lord BEFORE situations like that happen! The people who lean on God are better able to handle the ups and downs of life than the people who don’t lean on God. And in Ecclesiastes 12, verses two through five, Solomon uses metaphorical imagery to drive home the importance of remembering the Lord early in life. He says “Remember the Lord before the sun and the moon go dark. Remember the Lord before the doors close, before sound of grinding fades.” And then in verse six, it says “Remember the Lord before the silver cord is severed or the golden bowl is broken.” (he golden bowl was a hanging lamp connected to a silver chain. If even one link in the chain snaps, the bowl crashes to the ground.) Then he sums everything up in verse 13: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

In Christ,
Brown
HYDERABAD – September 6, 2008 – Seven United States members of the House of Representatives sent a letter on Sept. 4, 2008, to India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Ronen Sen, expressing concern about attacks on Christians in Orissa state. Also, on Sept. 3, 2008, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom called for action to stop the violence and accountability within India.
There are still sporadic reports of anti-Christian attacks from the eastern state of Orissa. The violence has entered its 15th day despite the emergency deployment of Central law enforcement troops. Attacks began on Aug. 23, 2008, after the murder of a controversial Hindu swami by unknown assailants.
Dr. Joseph D’souza, President of the All India Christian Council (aicc) said, “The global community is alarmed at the breakdown of law and order in Orissa, and rightly so. The widespread, continuing attacks on innocent Christians and violations of their human rights is unprecedented in India’s history. We welcome the concern of US politicians and all global citizens who believe in freedom of religion. As a proud Indian, I’m grieved that our democratic ideals are being hijacked by religious extremists.”
The seven American legislators were: Trent Franks, Chris Smith, Bill Sali, Robert Aderholt, Bob Inglis, Mark Souder, and Joseph R. Pitts. Excerpts of the letter:
“We unequivocally condemn the murder of the Swami, yet we are also appalled to see how mob violence has taken root so quickly once again… The reports of brutal killings and the widespread destruction of property…are extremely disturbing and we strongly urge the Government of India to maintain a strong security presence to guarantee the protection of vulnerable communities which are facing the immediate risk of violence and death. …We urge the Government of India to take immediate steps to investigate these events and bring justice for the victims of the violence. In order to prevent future attacks, it is imperative that the government also address the climate fostering these attacks. India, with its great religious diversity, faces considerable challenges with communalism, but a democratic government must work to ensure the security and freedom of all its citizens.”
Past international condemnation includes last week’s statement by the Italian government and the Vatican as well as a joint letter by Human Rights Watch, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and Dalit Freedom Network to the U.K. Foreign Secretary, U.S. Secretary of State, French Foreign Minister, and European Commissioner for External Relations. “We also welcome the condemnation of the riots by civil society Hindu leaders like Swami Agnivesh, President of the World Council of Arya Samaj, and Mahesh Bhatt, noted Bollywood film producer, and others,” said D’souza. On Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, Swami Agnivesh returned from a fact finding trip to Orissa and told reporters in Delhi that the attacks on Christians were “very similar” to the 2002 violence against Muslims in Gujarat.
On Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, India’s Supreme Court instructed the Orissa government to control the violence, and the Orissa authorities promised to halt a procession by the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council) on Sept. 7, 2008. However, VHP leaders told Indian journalist they still planned to hold the “Shraad Yatra” on the 16th day of the swami’s death, a traditional funeral rite performed by Hindu sadhus. Previously, Christian leaders from all major denominations and church networks called for a day of prayer and fasting across India on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008.
The Supreme Court was hearing a case filed by Roman Catholic Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar seeking a Central government investigation into the riots. The Central government publicly approved the idea, but the Orissa state government must initiate a request for the probe and has, so far, declined. The only other way to start an investigation is through a court order.
On Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, Minister of Home Affairs Shivraj Patil visited the epicenter of the violence, Kandhamal District, and promised compensation for the victims.
Lakshmanananda Saraswati, a Hindu swami and VHP leader, was killed by unknown assailants on Aug. 23, 2008. VHP leaders publicly blamed Christians and mobs attacked Christians in at least 12 of 30 districts in the eastern state of Orissa. Christian leaders reported, as of Sept. 3, 2008, at least 4,014 Christian homes destroyed in 300 villages, an estimated 50,000 people displaced, two pastors and 24 other Christians killed, one nun gang raped, and over a hundred churches burned. See dedicated webpage at: http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/2332/45/
From Dec. 24, 2007-Jan. 2, 2008, attacks in Kandhamal district killed at least four Christians and destroyed over 100 churches and 730 Christian homes. Most of the victims were Dalits, formerly known as untouchables.
The All India Christian Council (www.aiccindia.org), birthed in 1998, exists to protect and serve the Christian community, minorities, and the oppressed castes. The aicc is a coalition of thousands of Indian denominations, organizations, and lay leaders.