Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Exodus 20. This the record of God speaking clearly and lucidly, and giving the Ten Commandments. . . The Ten Words. . . The Decalogue. The first 4 commandments center on our relationship with the Lord God, who has made us and has redeemed us. The next six commandments center on our relationship with people in our lives and around us. The first four deal with God's personality, His Name, His Holiness, and His majesty. He demands exclusive devotion from His people whom He has created and redeemed. His commands are not burdensome. They are blessing. Within the boundaries of the Ten commandments we find freedom and the abundant life.
Alistair Begg tells the story of Thomas Aikenhead, who was a young theology student in Scotland in 1697. In 1695, Scotland had decreed a blasphemy law, which stated that a person ‘not distracted in his wit’ who railed or cursed against God or persons of the Trinity was to be punished with death. The Lord Advocate (or Attorney General) in 1697 prosecuted Thomas Aikenhead for such blasphemy. The Advocate addressed Aikenhead by stating, ‘It is of verity, that you Thomas Aikenhead, shaking off all fear of God and regard to his majestic laws, have now for more than a twelvemonth made it as it were your endeavor and work to vent your wicked blasphemies against God and our Savior Jesus Christ.’ And with that Aikenhead, 18 years of age, was taken to the gallows, the ladder was pulled away, his body swung, and he died for the crime of blasphemy.
How far Western Civilization has come from a time when one could readily be killed for blasphemy to a time when blasphemy is a staple of everything from conversation in the factory, to the punch line in a sitcom, to the words of choice for the smallest of children. "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." The first two commandments are written in the first person. In commandment 1 God states ‘no other gods before me’ and commandment 2 God states that He shows steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love me.’ They are both personal, in the first person. But the third commandment is in the third person ‘the name of the Lord your God.’ Why the shift? It is because God is emphasizing His covenant name first revealed to Moses at the burning bush. LORD is YHWH meaning ‘I am who I am’. It is the personal Name for God given to His covenant people. And in the third commandment God is emphasizing this Name. God’s emphasis on His own Name is a way of pointing to all that His Name represents; namely, God’s own inherent resplendent glory, His holiness, His purity, His supremacy.
If we know the God who is, then we will pray with reverence, “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed by thy name.” If we know the God who is, then we will sing with reverence, “O Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth.” If we know the God who is, then we will gather in the church service to praise Him, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” If we know the God Who is, then we will endure suffering for Him, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name." Keeping the third commandment is a matter of knowing the God Who is. Here we can see that the emphasis is on the fact that God is creating a people who will honor His Name. God commands His people to honor His Name, so God is creating for Himself a holy and distinct people. That is, the great purpose of God in salvation is to create a holy people, a distinct people. YOU shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain is a command for all people! All are bound by it and held accountable to it. Yet, while we will not expect those who do not follow Christ to honor God’s Name, we certainly will expect that those who claim to be God’s people will obey this command. Acts 4:12 remains a precious promise for each and every person who will trust in Christ. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Thus it is that we trust in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, when we recognize His holy nature in contrast to our desperate sinfulness, when we recognize Jesus’ position as Lord of the Universe in contrast to our finitude and smallness, when we humbly embrace the sacrifice that Jesus alone has made on the cross to endure the punishment for sins, then we are saved.
In Christ,
Brown
Mon, 06/10/2008 - 3:30pm Karnataka Full Gospel church burnt
Radicals on October 5th, burnt down Immanuel Full Gospel at at Kanaji Pura, Chamarajanagar, Karnataka.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, South India
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Mon, 06/10/2008 - 7:31am "You either embrace Hinduism or you die"-VHP writ in Kandhamal
NUAGAM (KANDHMAL): At the infamous Nuagam relief camp near Baliguda, where a nun was raped on August 25 and where today there are about 2,000 tribals bunched up around leaky tents and on ground wet from flooding, Johan Naik and four others like him stand out as the most wretched.
"We are accursed," says Johan, rubbing his gnarled hand on his bald head. A month ago, as rampaging Hindu mobs ran through Kandhmal, looting, burning and pillaging, around 400 men converged at his house in Pirigada, a cluster of Protestant houses in Nuagam block. There, with swords unsheathed and drunk on the righteous rage of bigots, five of them gave Johan a choice. "You either embrace Hinduism or you die," he was told.
posted in: Current Issue, , East India
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Sun, 05/10/2008 - 11:30pm Single teacher tribal schools fund diverted for idelogy of hate
Per 2006 tax records, Ekal Vidyalaya allocated more than two million dollars to India, India Development Relief Fund (IDRF) allocated 1.6 million USD, and Sewa International USA allocated 284,800 dollars. Other organisationschanneled funds for the Sangh Parivar to Orissa via groups located in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and elsewhere. All together,substantial money continues to be accumulated from upper caste/landed communities in Orissa.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Sun, 05/10/2008 - 10:56pm Respect an individual's decision-anti christian thuggery
(Shashi Tharoor) My last column has triggered an overwhelming response. Gratifyingly, many readers (including several describing themselves as believing Hindus) are as outraged as I was at the anti-Christian thuggery that has been perpetrated in the name of Hinduism. Killers of children are not Hindus, even if they claim to be acting on behalf of their faith; it is as simple as that. Murder does not have a religion - even when it claims a religious excuse.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Sun, 05/10/2008 - 11:27am Prayer hall attacked in Delhi
NEW DELHI: Some local residents allegedly targeted a Christian prayer hall at Peeragarhi Relief Camp in West Delhi about a fortnight ago alleging that efforts were being made to illegally extend its boundaries.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, North India
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Sun, 05/10/2008 - 7:39am Maoist leader lays claim on VHP leader`s killing
Source : Zee News and Orissa TV)Bhubaneswar, Oct 04: Prominent Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda alias Sunil today "claimed responsibility" for the murder of VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four others, which lead to large scale flare-up in Orissa's Kandhamal district, on two regional news channels.
A Maoist leader, identified as Panda, told the reporters of the two private Oriya television channels at an undisclosed destination, that the Maoist outfit decided to eliminate Saraswati as he was "spreading social unrest" in the tribal dominated district.
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