Read this and tell me what you think.
Can a person's personal conviction be separated from his /her job or vocation? If so, where do we draw the line?
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." Mathew 10:32
"But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. " Luke 12:9
Monday, January 22, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
One Among Many Martyrs
Moving Funeral for Murdered Devout Christian Charity Worker Mourners have packed a country church in the Burnley area to pay their respects to a young British charity worker found bludgeoned to death in India last November.
by Maria Mackay
by Maria Mackay
Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2007, 8:52 (GMT)Mourners have packed a country church in the Burnley area to pay their respects to a young British charity worker found bludgeoned to death in India last November.
The body of devout Christian Michael Blakey, 23, was discovered in a churchyard in Dharamsala in the Himalayas of northern India, where he had been working for seven months for the charity Tong-Len. He had been bludgeoned to death.
Family and friends filled St John the Evangelist Church in Blakey’s home village of Worsthorne near Burnley where they heard moving testimonies of the compassionate and idealistic nature of the young man who had gone abroad to help the poor.
Mourners at the moving funeral service also heard him described as a genuinely remarkable young man.
Mr Blakey's parents, Paul Blakey and Mary Whitford, looked on close to tears as Anna Owen, the director of the charity, gave a eulogy, reports The Wharf.
Mrs Owen said Michael had "more essential goodness than any young man I have ever met" and was "good to the core of his being", who "not only cared for the poor, but acted upon it”.
Many of Mr Blakey's friends from Swansea, where he attended university and lived before he went to India, were in tears at the service.
An outstanding student, he was awarded a first class honours degree in development studies after studying at Swansea.
Andrew Mews said his cousin Michael had a, "thirst for life" and was passionate about his beliefs.
Blakey’s killer has not yet been caught.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
China & Russia Veto UN Security Council Resolution on Burma
Read the original post here.
A resolution on Burma proposed by the United States and supported by the United Kingdom has been vetoed on Friday 12 January by China and Russia. South Africa also voted against the resolution, explains Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
The resolution, which called on the military regime in Burma to cease its military attacks on civilians in the ethnic minority regions, to end the violations of human rights and to open up the country to international humanitarian organisations, won the support of the majority of members of the Security Council but was defeated by China and Russia.
It urged the regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to release all political prisoners and begin “substantive political dialogue” with pro-democracy and ethnic groups, leading to a “genuine democratic transition”.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has campaigned actively for a UN Security Council resolution on Burma following the publication in 2005 of Threat to the Peace: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma, a report commissioned by former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Nobel Laureate and former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu.
The report, published by international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, argued that Burma fulfils all the major criteria for UN Security Council action.
Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s Chief Executive, said: “We are deeply disappointed that China and Russia used their veto against such a moderate and constructive resolution. We are astonished that South Africa, given its own struggle against apartheid, voted against the resolution. It has taken much hard work from organisations like CSW to get the issue of Burma onto the Security Council’s agenda and we will work to ensure it remains there.
“The gross violations of human rights, including violations of religious freedom, combined with the crisis of HIV/AIDS, drug trafficking and refugee outflows should make Burma a matter of serious concern to the international community.”
CSW will be releasing a report – ‘Carrying the Cross: The military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma’ – on 23 January, which will call for the continued involvement of the Security Council in Burma.
CSW will also be hosting a delegation of Chin and Kachin ethnic groups from Burma. This delegation will be visiting London, Brussels, Berlin and Washington, DC between 17 January and 15 February.
A resolution on Burma proposed by the United States and supported by the United Kingdom has been vetoed on Friday 12 January by China and Russia. South Africa also voted against the resolution, explains Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
The resolution, which called on the military regime in Burma to cease its military attacks on civilians in the ethnic minority regions, to end the violations of human rights and to open up the country to international humanitarian organisations, won the support of the majority of members of the Security Council but was defeated by China and Russia.
It urged the regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to release all political prisoners and begin “substantive political dialogue” with pro-democracy and ethnic groups, leading to a “genuine democratic transition”.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has campaigned actively for a UN Security Council resolution on Burma following the publication in 2005 of Threat to the Peace: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma, a report commissioned by former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Nobel Laureate and former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu.
The report, published by international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, argued that Burma fulfils all the major criteria for UN Security Council action.
Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s Chief Executive, said: “We are deeply disappointed that China and Russia used their veto against such a moderate and constructive resolution. We are astonished that South Africa, given its own struggle against apartheid, voted against the resolution. It has taken much hard work from organisations like CSW to get the issue of Burma onto the Security Council’s agenda and we will work to ensure it remains there.
“The gross violations of human rights, including violations of religious freedom, combined with the crisis of HIV/AIDS, drug trafficking and refugee outflows should make Burma a matter of serious concern to the international community.”
CSW will be releasing a report – ‘Carrying the Cross: The military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma’ – on 23 January, which will call for the continued involvement of the Security Council in Burma.
CSW will also be hosting a delegation of Chin and Kachin ethnic groups from Burma. This delegation will be visiting London, Brussels, Berlin and Washington, DC between 17 January and 15 February.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
England, thy name is Islamic nation
I think I have shared that the late Derek Prince once predicted that England will become an Islamic country.
Read the following article for find out the progress.
A spokesperson from the UK Islamic Mission declared that “The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders.”
Another speaker said Muslims cannot accept the rule of non-Muslims. “You cannot accept the rule of the kaffir,” Dr Ijaz Mian tells a meeting held within the mosque. “We have to rule ourselves and we have to rule the others.”
Fortunately, not all muslims are like that. UKIM when contacted expressed that they are concerned about this and has instructed the mosques not to invite such extremists and fundamental speakers.
What are you going to do about it, England?
Read the following article for find out the progress.
A spokesperson from the UK Islamic Mission declared that “The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders.”
Another speaker said Muslims cannot accept the rule of non-Muslims. “You cannot accept the rule of the kaffir,” Dr Ijaz Mian tells a meeting held within the mosque. “We have to rule ourselves and we have to rule the others.”
Fortunately, not all muslims are like that. UKIM when contacted expressed that they are concerned about this and has instructed the mosques not to invite such extremists and fundamental speakers.
What are you going to do about it, England?
Friday, January 12, 2007
The Sexual Orientation Regulations and what it means to you
Read this from Christianity Today.
I have it at the bottom.
The late Derek Prince predicted England will be come a Muslim nation. The SOR basically says no one can say homosexual is wrong. If they decide so, they can come to your church for their 'wedding' and you cannot say no. This is just the first of many to come. Beware. Open our eyes and see what's happening. It's no longer just the spiritual realm. It right before our very eyes.
Government Must Protect Right of Christians to Live by Faith
The Sexual Orientation Regulations were upheld by the House of Lords this week and many Christians have voiced their alarm at what affect their coming into being will have on their freedom to live according to their faith.
by Maria Mackay
Posted: Thursday, January 11, 2007, 11:23 (GMT)
The Sexual Orientation Regulations were upheld by the House of Lords this week and many Christians have voiced their alarm at what affect their coming into being will have on their freedom to live according to their faith.
Christian groups have warned that Christian printers will not be allowed to refuse to print homosexual material, while Christian bed and breakfast owners will be forced to accommodate homosexual couples; the Church of England, meanwhile, is concerned that its priests may be sued if they do not perform blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. Pastors, largely in the black church community, have vowed they would rather go to jail than be compelled to let out their properties to pro-gay groups.
If Christians think these are simply worst case scenarios, they should at the very least be concerned by the ill-boding that such legislation suggests for Christians in the public sphere. Christians are undoubtedly facing tougher times and the public sphere is a place where new checks and balances are making the job of being Christian (as opposed to merely identifying oneself as Christian) increasingly difficult.
The cases in point are numerous: Exeter University’s Evangelical Christian Union is currently embroiled in a court battle with the university’s guild after the latter stripped the ECU of its membership on the basis that it was too exclusive; we have just passed through yet another Christmas season during which Christians have had to fight for the right to celebrate their own festival on their own terms; one local council in London has even threatened to withdraw funds from a Polish family centre if it changes its name to include the word ‘Christian’.
But the line between public and private for people of faith, Christian or otherwise, cannot be so simply demarcated as some behind the pro-secularist agenda would like to have it. For Christians, it is simply impossible to believe, think, feel, breathe and practise one thing behind the closed doors of the church or home only to leave all that behind when they hit the public square. A Christian is a Christian, whether in public or in private.
This is where it may help to remind those driving the secularist/PC agenda of what faith actually is. Faith does not simply mean a belief that God exists. Faith is not simply a word. It is a life. Faith in God is faith in the Bible, and any faith in that requires simultaneously that His Word is lived by. Faith may start in the heart but it ends in the strivings of the hands and feet and the utterances of the mouth. In other words, it ends in actions.
In short, living according to one’s faith implies a great deal of careful navigation through the throngs of daily life but it is this navigation that the government must protect. Implicit in Christian living is the necessity for Christians to live according to their consciences, as shaped by the Bible.
We live in an age of equal rights and of course everyone has the right against unfair subjection to discrimination or violence. But the current climate makes it not unjustified to feel that some rights are regarded as more equal than others. The battle today seems not to be over whether those rights exist but over who has the greater right to have them realised, or which right will prove the first among equals.
The government must make sure that the law is at work to promote all rights with equal attentiveness and that a careful balance is struck between the right of those seeking to live by a particular sexual orientation - or otherwise - and those seeking to live according to their faith and conscience.
I have it at the bottom.
The late Derek Prince predicted England will be come a Muslim nation. The SOR basically says no one can say homosexual is wrong. If they decide so, they can come to your church for their 'wedding' and you cannot say no. This is just the first of many to come. Beware. Open our eyes and see what's happening. It's no longer just the spiritual realm. It right before our very eyes.
Government Must Protect Right of Christians to Live by Faith
The Sexual Orientation Regulations were upheld by the House of Lords this week and many Christians have voiced their alarm at what affect their coming into being will have on their freedom to live according to their faith.
by Maria Mackay
Posted: Thursday, January 11, 2007, 11:23 (GMT)
The Sexual Orientation Regulations were upheld by the House of Lords this week and many Christians have voiced their alarm at what affect their coming into being will have on their freedom to live according to their faith.
Christian groups have warned that Christian printers will not be allowed to refuse to print homosexual material, while Christian bed and breakfast owners will be forced to accommodate homosexual couples; the Church of England, meanwhile, is concerned that its priests may be sued if they do not perform blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. Pastors, largely in the black church community, have vowed they would rather go to jail than be compelled to let out their properties to pro-gay groups.
If Christians think these are simply worst case scenarios, they should at the very least be concerned by the ill-boding that such legislation suggests for Christians in the public sphere. Christians are undoubtedly facing tougher times and the public sphere is a place where new checks and balances are making the job of being Christian (as opposed to merely identifying oneself as Christian) increasingly difficult.
The cases in point are numerous: Exeter University’s Evangelical Christian Union is currently embroiled in a court battle with the university’s guild after the latter stripped the ECU of its membership on the basis that it was too exclusive; we have just passed through yet another Christmas season during which Christians have had to fight for the right to celebrate their own festival on their own terms; one local council in London has even threatened to withdraw funds from a Polish family centre if it changes its name to include the word ‘Christian’.
But the line between public and private for people of faith, Christian or otherwise, cannot be so simply demarcated as some behind the pro-secularist agenda would like to have it. For Christians, it is simply impossible to believe, think, feel, breathe and practise one thing behind the closed doors of the church or home only to leave all that behind when they hit the public square. A Christian is a Christian, whether in public or in private.
This is where it may help to remind those driving the secularist/PC agenda of what faith actually is. Faith does not simply mean a belief that God exists. Faith is not simply a word. It is a life. Faith in God is faith in the Bible, and any faith in that requires simultaneously that His Word is lived by. Faith may start in the heart but it ends in the strivings of the hands and feet and the utterances of the mouth. In other words, it ends in actions.
In short, living according to one’s faith implies a great deal of careful navigation through the throngs of daily life but it is this navigation that the government must protect. Implicit in Christian living is the necessity for Christians to live according to their consciences, as shaped by the Bible.
We live in an age of equal rights and of course everyone has the right against unfair subjection to discrimination or violence. But the current climate makes it not unjustified to feel that some rights are regarded as more equal than others. The battle today seems not to be over whether those rights exist but over who has the greater right to have them realised, or which right will prove the first among equals.
The government must make sure that the law is at work to promote all rights with equal attentiveness and that a careful balance is struck between the right of those seeking to live by a particular sexual orientation - or otherwise - and those seeking to live according to their faith and conscience.
Monday, January 01, 2007
丰年？荒年？
新的一年又来到，我们通常会立下新年的新目标，或是立定心志、或是痛改前非。
2007会是怎样的一年呢？我且与各位看看香港宣教会恩磐堂一位林牧师在2003年分享的一篇文章。
主页>文章阅览>教牧心声>荒年仍是丰年，故我灵镇定！
林牧师2002年2月21日正当我们进入壬午马年，恐怕我们感到「年」这隻怪物，今年不是再多的锣鼓炮竹能够驱走，而可能我们得到的不是名驹而是瘦马。
你是否快乐地渡过新年呢？还是你被荒年所困，焦虑新年后的光景呢？近日一调查显示67%（近七成）的香港人担心新年后的工作与经济。你担心吗？我们的心灵能镇静吗？
其实近两个新年我都在恐慌中渡过。去年年三十小儿入医院，留院至年初六才出院。奇怪的是我完全忘记了这件事，直至今年年初三才记起，包括记起年初二我从医院立立的病床旁致电家人不能与他们拜年，我体会到人是何等善忘的动物，能「忘记」是恩典！叫我们没有过多积压重担。荒年亦不一定是凶年，反之它也是丰年，过去一年中，我都是在恩典中渡过。
而今年新年的凶荒更是利害，在宣告离职后肢体的反应增加了我失业／弃业的真实感与离愁，笼罩著我新年年初的几天，叫我在荒年的预感中渡过新年。我提醒自己，任何日子都是主给我的好日子，我应享受神与享受人中渡过！
圣经的话语全是安慰的力量。新年前后我的读经主要是但以理书，因我年初五负责提摩太团的「末世论」週会，我在细读但以理书中，神的国度的统治与盼望的主题浮现在我眼前。在粗略及零散的阅读中，我们只得到但以理与其三友稳渡狮子坑与火坑，而没有见到全书以神的国度与全能去比对地上君王的无能。《但》不是论但以理及其三友何等的英雄，而是神与祂的国度何等的荣耀与得胜，以致我能写下：「荒年仍是丰年」，因在祂里面只有丰盛，包括荒与凶年中的丰盛，所以我们的心灵可以镇静。虽然传媒将会继续报导荒与凶的新旧闻，年初一的新闻还是更多的车祸，而年三十晚我们亦有老会友在吃团年时离世，（愿主安慰他一家）。但愿主都安慰与坚固我们的心。
人生中荒丰难以届定，去年香港一银行所有员工都有半年薪水的「花红」，更有是八、九个月的。我亦得知今年有香港的公司除得粮十三个月外，还有「花红」。我有一朋友是一公司的总裁，今年已取得市场的代理权90%以上，这是他事业最光辉的日子，亦同时可能是他最不安全的时候，下一步可能就是饱和与被取代了。「凶」的可能被裁，「丰」的亦可能被裁。或许迪更斯《双城记》啟语：「这是最美好的日子，这（同时）是最恶劣的日子」（this is the best of time,this is the worst of time）成了多人引用的名句，因為它道出了生命中同时是荒与丰的真相。
愿我们安稳在主手中，丰年是丰，荒年也是丰，因如保罗在腓立比书4章说，他可以处丰足也学会了处贫穷，正是如此，他的生命更形丰盛，而我们亦因凶年的磨练叫生命更茁壮！
祝马年在主里全是镇定
2007会是怎样的一年呢？我且与各位看看香港宣教会恩磐堂一位林牧师在2003年分享的一篇文章。
主页>文章阅览>教牧心声>荒年仍是丰年，故我灵镇定！
林牧师2002年2月21日正当我们进入壬午马年，恐怕我们感到「年」这隻怪物，今年不是再多的锣鼓炮竹能够驱走，而可能我们得到的不是名驹而是瘦马。
你是否快乐地渡过新年呢？还是你被荒年所困，焦虑新年后的光景呢？近日一调查显示67%（近七成）的香港人担心新年后的工作与经济。你担心吗？我们的心灵能镇静吗？
其实近两个新年我都在恐慌中渡过。去年年三十小儿入医院，留院至年初六才出院。奇怪的是我完全忘记了这件事，直至今年年初三才记起，包括记起年初二我从医院立立的病床旁致电家人不能与他们拜年，我体会到人是何等善忘的动物，能「忘记」是恩典！叫我们没有过多积压重担。荒年亦不一定是凶年，反之它也是丰年，过去一年中，我都是在恩典中渡过。
而今年新年的凶荒更是利害，在宣告离职后肢体的反应增加了我失业／弃业的真实感与离愁，笼罩著我新年年初的几天，叫我在荒年的预感中渡过新年。我提醒自己，任何日子都是主给我的好日子，我应享受神与享受人中渡过！
圣经的话语全是安慰的力量。新年前后我的读经主要是但以理书，因我年初五负责提摩太团的「末世论」週会，我在细读但以理书中，神的国度的统治与盼望的主题浮现在我眼前。在粗略及零散的阅读中，我们只得到但以理与其三友稳渡狮子坑与火坑，而没有见到全书以神的国度与全能去比对地上君王的无能。《但》不是论但以理及其三友何等的英雄，而是神与祂的国度何等的荣耀与得胜，以致我能写下：「荒年仍是丰年」，因在祂里面只有丰盛，包括荒与凶年中的丰盛，所以我们的心灵可以镇静。虽然传媒将会继续报导荒与凶的新旧闻，年初一的新闻还是更多的车祸，而年三十晚我们亦有老会友在吃团年时离世，（愿主安慰他一家）。但愿主都安慰与坚固我们的心。
人生中荒丰难以届定，去年香港一银行所有员工都有半年薪水的「花红」，更有是八、九个月的。我亦得知今年有香港的公司除得粮十三个月外，还有「花红」。我有一朋友是一公司的总裁，今年已取得市场的代理权90%以上，这是他事业最光辉的日子，亦同时可能是他最不安全的时候，下一步可能就是饱和与被取代了。「凶」的可能被裁，「丰」的亦可能被裁。或许迪更斯《双城记》啟语：「这是最美好的日子，这（同时）是最恶劣的日子」（this is the best of time,this is the worst of time）成了多人引用的名句，因為它道出了生命中同时是荒与丰的真相。
愿我们安稳在主手中，丰年是丰，荒年也是丰，因如保罗在腓立比书4章说，他可以处丰足也学会了处贫穷，正是如此，他的生命更形丰盛，而我们亦因凶年的磨练叫生命更茁壮！
祝马年在主里全是镇定
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