Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Enjoy Yourself

Entertainment is essential to our well being. Jesus Christ participated in parties like the wedding at Cana (John 2.)

Having a good time helps to make sure we keep a merry heart. Do you shop, play sports or do something else for recreation? Proverbs 17:22 Amplified Bible says, "A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."

An African proverb says, "Work is good, provided you do not forget to live."

Chen Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, is a self-taught lawyer from China who helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy. Later he endured jail and house arrest. Eventually he escaped to the United States and testified before Congress on April 9, 2013, regarding human rights abuses in China.

Even a human rights activist has fun. Chen Guangcheng went to Disneyland with Actor and Activist Christian Bale in January 2013.

Some people are not in a position to enjoy recreation. Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini is being physically and psychologically abused in an Iranian prison for his Christian faith which Iran considers a threat to their national security. Being able to have fun is something to thank God for giving us in America.

Fun times can be had in church buildings. Some churches have comedy shows, music festivals, dinners, poetry nights and other forms of recreation. Pastor Abedini was setting up Christian house churches and an orphanage in Iran before he was placed under house arrest. A campaign to free him by writing letters and signing a petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org.

Sometimes physical and/or mental sickness steals our ability to participate in recreation. When we don't have ideal life circumstances, creyentes (believers) who are reinas y reyes (queens and kings) don't give up on life. Please call Governor Mary Fallin at (405-521-2342) to ask her to sign into law HB 1403 The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma which protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

What are some things you do to maintain a merry heart? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P.O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
and share a tweet @Michelelove30 via the social media Twitter.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Embrace Godly Emotions

Having emotions and expressing them are part of the life of creyentes (believers) who are reinas y reyes (queens and kings.) God made each one of us with unique finger prints, eye prints and scents. We will express our emotions in diverse ways. Expressing godly emotions is not a sign of being unbalanced, but is something to engage in with enthusiasm.

King David cried in public to petition God. King David says in Psalm 69:9-12 New Living Translation Bible, "Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. When I weep and fast, they scoff at me. When I dress in burlap to show sorrow, they make fun of me. I am the favorite topic of town gossip, and all the drunks sing about me."

God doesn't make fun of or belittle our godly emotions. God has emotions. He created our emotions and encourages emotional expression inspired by Him. A woman kissed and wept over Jesus Christ in Luke 7:38-47 New Living Translation Bible, and Jesus Christ commended her: "Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”"

God likes passionate people. Not only does He accept tears but also laughter and many other emotional expressions. God wants us to do likewise. Romans 12:15 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Are you around people who can accept laughter, tears and other expressions?

Some people may weep when praying to free Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini, who is being tortured in an Iranian prison for his Christian faith. They may also be inspired to laugh at the devil regarding the fact that more than 575,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending support to Pastor Abedini who in January 2013 was sentenced by Iranian authorities to an eight-year prison sentence for "threatening the national security of Iran;" Pastor Abedini had been involved in setting up house churches in Iran and also an orphanage. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org.

The devil rejoices to harm people. Reinas y reyes rejoice to help them. Please call Governor Mary Fallin at (405-521-2342) to ask her to sign into law HB 1403 The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma which protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

Please also write a letter about forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China's one-child policy and human rights abuses of Chen Guangcheng's family and friends to:
Secretary of State John Kerry
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520


Chen Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, is a self-taught lawyer from China who helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night. His wife, Yuan Weijing, and daughter were living with him under house arrest. This family was prevented from meeting their wider family, including Chen Guangcheng's and Yuan Weijing's son, who lived elsewhere with an aunt.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong is a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; in America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.

Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.

"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."

Torture and other reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US one year ago.

On April 24, 2013, Chen Kegui's mother, Ren Zongju, and Chen Kegui's uncle, Chen Guangjun, were told by Chinese authorities to answer questions about whether they “harbored a criminal” by helping Chen Kegui before his capture. Chen Guangjun is a bother of Chen Guangcheng

Chen Guangfu, another brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Chris Buckley of The New York Times for his April 24, 2013, article, "Chinese Officials Order Questioning of Exiled Activist’s Relatives," “I think that this is really about Guangcheng;” “I’ve heard that he spoke at the U.S. Congress and leveled accusations against officials. In my view, that infuriated them.”

Truth infuriates workers of iniquity. There is such a thing as righteous anger; stir it up to move out evil.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Would You Accept Infidelity?

Some want to side step clear cases of evil and allow the status quo to continue. Some examples of this are those who refused to speak out against American segregation and spouses of all generations who want their spouses to put up with their same-sex and/or opposite-sex infidelities, lying and other habitual sin attitudes and actions of "I want to feed my appetites with all my might, and I don't care if it's not right."

Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5:6 Amplified Bible, "Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied!"

A Rolling Stones laments "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." No one can find satisfaction outside of right standing with God. To thirst after righteousness, God has to deliver us from immersion in the immaturity of me, me, me.

True love is not isolationist neither is it perfectly social except when practiced by God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. while he was imperfect as is every other human being was not typical in that he had the kind of passionate love that permeated every area of his life.

Light, love, life are all names for God. When God comes to live inside a person, God commands us to cooperate with His process of kicking out licentiousness and other enemies of love. Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5:16 Amplified Bible, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven."

God wants us to love willfully, wonderfully, wholly. God is not about how little His creyentes (believers) who are reinas y reyes (queens and kings) can do to make many people's lives better, but how much. Jesus Christ is the Great Lover, and He is cultivating a kingdom family of great lovers.

More than 574,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending support to Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini who in January 2013 was sentenced by Iranian authorities to an eight-year prison sentence for "threatening the national security of Iran;" Pastor Abedini had been involved in setting up house churches in Iran and also an orphanage. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org. Another good reason to sign the petition and/or write a letter is that Iran will be having elections in June and to continue to pressure the US State Department, the European Union and other countries and organizations to help free Pastor Saeed Abedini.

Have you prayed, signed the petition, wrote a letter or did something else to free Pastor Abedini, who is being tortured in an Iranian prison for his Christian faith?

No matter what abilities and disabilities we have God made us, loves us and respects the life of all people. Please call Governor Mary Fallin at (405-521-2342) to ask her to sign into law HB 1403 The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma which protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

The devil does not like people with disabilities or any human being because we are made in the image of God, his arch enemy.

Chen Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, is a self-taught lawyer from China who helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night. His wife, Yuan Weijing, and daughter were living with him under house arrest. This family was prevented from meeting their wider family, including Chen Guangcheng's and Yuan Weijing's son, who lived elsewhere with an aunt.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong is a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; in America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.

Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.

"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."

Torture and other reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US one year ago.

On April 24, 2013, Chen Kegui's mother, Ren Zongju, and Chen Kegui's uncle, Chen Guangjun, were told by Chinese authorities to answer questions about whether they “harbored a criminal” by helping Chen Kegui before his capture. Chen Guangjun is a bother of Chen Guangcheng

Chen Guangfu, another brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Chris Buckley of The New York Times for his April 24, 2013, article, "Chinese Officials Order Questioning of Exiled Activist’s Relatives, “I think that this is really about Guangcheng;” “I’ve heard that he spoke at the U.S. Congress and leveled accusations against officials. In my view, that infuriated them.”

Reinas y reyes are called to infuriate the enemy of good relationships. 1 John 3:7-8 the Message Bible says, "So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways."

The devil has had his way in China with more Chinese baby boys and baby girls losing their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia! The devil has had his way in America with a baby losing his or her life every 30 seconds!

Christmas 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached the following words: "Now let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. Every man is somebody because he is a child of God…Man is more than a tiny vagary of whirling electrons or a wisp of smoke from a limitless smoldering. Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such….And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won't exploit people, we won't trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won't kill anybody."

Talk to God, godly people and write a letter about forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China's one-child policy and human rights abuses of Chen Guangcheng's family and friends to:
Secretary of State John Kerry
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sexuality In the Service of God

On Saturday, October 29, 1864, Abolitionist and Women's Rights Activist Sojourner Truth and US President Abraham Lincoln met. Toward the end of their meeting, Truth asked Lincoln to sign her Book of Life, which was a combination scrapbook and autograph book. Truth used her Book of Life to enclose personal letters and newspaper clippings and to collect signatures of people she admired and respected.  

Truth and Lincoln were not lovers; they were friends. Everyone didn't make it into her Book of Life. Truth also met with President Andrew Johnson, but she did not ask him to sign her Book of Life.

God has the names of creyentes (believers) written in His Book of Life. Creyentes can make their own books of life like Sojourner Truth's Book of Life. Married creyentes can even turn their books of life into Chinese pillow books. Chinese pillow books are small, sex-instruction manuals, each on a specific topic with illustrations. You can include erotic poems written by you or someone else, pressed flowers, cards, mementos, clippings from magazines and/or books with your notes, prose of your own on special paper and whatever you and your spouse enjoy. Books can be titled Touch Me Like This, Play Time, Hot Dates, Beautiful Butts, Fellatio, Cunnilingus, Intercourse Positions, S & M Alternatives or something in a code known only to each other. What are the titles of your Chinese pillow books?

Sex is an integral part of a marriage relationship. Sex is good. Sex is created by God. Sometimes people abuse or fail to appreciate God's creative work. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Amplified Bible says, "But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast."

Un dicho (a proverb) says, "Pueblo dividido, pueblo vencido." ("A people divided, a people conquered.") Chinese pillow books and books of life can build relationships by helping people to appreciate and to understand each other and to seek unity. We all do not think alike and may be surprised to learn certain things about our spouses and friends.

Some people are afraid of and try to suppress open communication. Iranian authorities put Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children because Pastor Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The US State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 574,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org.

Cherish the God-given ability to communicate. Please call Governor Mary Fallin at (405-521-2342) to ask her to sign into law HB 1403 The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma which protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

"I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions," says a character in the book Night by Elie Wiesel. The most important relationship to have is a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1). Matthew 22:36-40 English Standard Version Bible says, "“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”"

China is not treating neighbors well. "I escaped so I could tell the world about the situation in China," Chen Guangcheng said in an April 24, 2013, article by Dai Ying for Deutsch Welle.  

Guangcheng is from China. He is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night. His wife and daughter were living with him under house arrest. This family was prevented from meeting their wider family, including Chen Guangcheng's and Yuan Weijing's son, who lived elsewhere with an aunt.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong is a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.

"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."

Torture and other reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US one year ago.

On April 24, 2013, Chen Kegui's mother, Ren Zongju, and Chen Kegui's uncle, Chen Guangjun, were told by Chinese authorities to answer questions about whether they “harbored a criminal” by helping Chen Kegui before his capture. Chen Guangjun is a bother of Chen Guangcheng

Chen Guangfu, another brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Chris Buckley of The New York Times for his April 24, 2013, article, "Chinese Officials Order Questioning of Exiled Activist’s Relatives, “I think that this is really about Guangcheng;” “I’ve heard that he spoke at the U.S. Congress and leveled accusations against officials. In my view, that infuriated them.”

Creyentes are called to infuriate the enemy of good relationships. We are all sexual beings, but all are not using sexuality in the service of God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. 1 John 3:7-8 the Message Bible says, "So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways."

Write a letter about forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China's one-child policy and human rights abuses of Chen Guangcheng's family and friends to:
Secretary of State John Kerry
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520


Friday, April 26, 2013

What Would You Do For Love?

A Kaonde African proverb says, "Husband and wife must be loyal to each other." Wife, Ellen Craft, and husband, William Craft, were reliable to make their relationship work with the benefits of freedom. Ellen was also so fair-skinned that she could pass for white even though she was of mixed European and African ancestry. William was of African ancestry. They were both slaves. Ellen cut her hair and posed as a white man traveling with her black slave. Traveling in this manner the married couple escaped slavery in Georgia and went to freedom in England.

True love inspires great actions. Romans 5:8 Amplified Bible says, "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us." 1 John 4:11 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another."

"... In the Bible we are all considered brothers and sisters despite our race, color or nationality," wrote Pastor Saeed Abedini in a letter to his wife, Naghmeh Abedini. Pastor Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The US State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 573,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org.

Everyone can thank God for having a birthday to celebrate. God is author of  life, but not of discrimination. Acts 10:34 Amplified Bible says, "And Peter opened his mouth and said: Most certainly and thoroughly I now perceive and understand that God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons." Please call Governor Mary Fallin at (405-521-2342) to ask her to sign into law HB 1403 The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma which protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

Discrimination is deadly for the young too. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion;that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia; in America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.

When righteousness reigns, God is pleased. It's easier to receive a right relationship with God and people in free and open societies. China is not such a society.

One person trying to open up China and to eliminate forced abortions and forced sterilizations is Chen Guangcheng. Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night. His wife and daughter were living with him under house arrest. This family was prevented from meeting their wider family, including Chen Guangcheng's and Yuan Weijing's son, who lived elsewhere with an aunt.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong is a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Wherever evil exists, so do fear tactics. 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control."

What are some ways love is winning over fear?

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Freedom-Loving Friends

Some Southerners spread rumors that Frederick Douglass was never a slave because he spoke so well. Partly in response to these rumors, Douglass wrote his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass that gave specific information about slave owners, slaves and places where his time in slavery happened. Under the Fugitive Slave Law Douglass, who left a slave state for a free one, could be returned to slavery. So Douglass left the United States and went to England.

In England he gave speeches against African-American slavery and in favor of Irish freedom, women's rights and world peace. Douglass made a lot of freedom-loving friends, but his heart was to be in America fighting primarily for the freedom of African Americans.

Proverbs 17:17 Complete Jewish Bible says, "A friend shows his friendship at all times — it is for adversity that [such] a brother is born." Douglass' English abolitionists friends purchased his freedom, so that Douglass would be safer from the Fugitive Slave Act.

We all need to welcome and live in a wide variety of relationships. Chantal Sicile-Kira categorizes relationships in her article, "The Transition To Adulthood: Planning Ahead," for the magazine, Autism File, that is applicable to all people. She describes four circles of relationships:

1) The Circle of Intimacy includes those with whom we share our secrets, dreams and values. These are our best friends and are usually family members, but can and should also include others. We know and share a lot about what is going on in each others lives, our thoughts and feelings. We feel safe enough in these relationships to support each other spiritually and emotionally. Jesus encouraged intimate relationships beyond biology. Mark 3:33-35 New Living Translation Bible says, "Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

2) The Circle of Friendship includes friends or relatives whom we see for occasional social activities, such as for a movie or to eat a meal, but who are not our closest friends. The Bible records that Epaphras and Paul shared some time in jail and time spreading the Gospel, but not with the intensity and intimacy of the relationship between Timothy and Paul.

3) The Circle of Participation includes people who we participate with in our life, such as on the job, business or ministry, our place of worship, schools, sports teams, social clubs and other organizations. This circle contains people who may eventually be in the Circle of Friendship or even the Circle of Intimacy. We can socialize with members of our church, other churches and other groups. Luke 9:49-50 New Living Translation Bible says, "John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.” But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him! Anyone who is not against you is for you.”"

4) The Circle of Exchange includes people who are paid to be in our lives, such as medical professionals, teachers, counselors, governmental officials, sales associates, auto mechanics, etc. These people can also be cultivated to move into the Circle of Participation, Circle of Friendship and even the Circle of Intimacy. Everyone is a potential friend/disciple. Matthew 28:18-20 the Message Bible says, "Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.""

Like Frederick Douglass had abolitionist friends who purchased his freedom, Chen Guangcheng has friends who helped him to obtain his freedom.

Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night. His wife and daughter were living with him under house arrest. This family was prevented from meeting their wider family, including Chen Guangcheng's and Yuan Weijing's son, who lived elsewhere with an aunt.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong is a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Being able to spend the rest of life with a spouse is a privilege that can be plucked away at any time whether we are a US citizen or a citizen of another country. Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.

"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."

Torture and other reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US.

On April 24, 2013, Chen Kegui's mother, Ren Zongju, and Chen Kegui's uncle, Chen Guangjun, were told by Chinese authorities to answer questions about whether they “harbored a criminal” by helping Chen Kegui before his capture. Chen Guangjun is a bother of Chen Guangcheng

Chen Guangfu, another brother of Chen Guangcheng, told Chris Buckley of The New York Times for his April 24, 2013, article, "Chinese Officials Order Questioning of Exiled Activist’s Relatives, “I think that this is really about Guangcheng;” “I’ve heard that he spoke at the U.S. Congress and leveled accusations against officials. In my view, that infuriated them.”

Iranian authorities are infuriated by the Christian faith and works of Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini. Pastor Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The US State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 573,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org. In a February 18, 2013, letter to his wife, Pastor Abedini wrote about physical and psychological abuse inflicted on him to compel him to deny his faith in Jesus Christ. He also wrote of plans to persevere in his relationship with God and to share it with others: "There are empty containers who are thirsty for a taste of the Living Water and we can quench their thirst by giving them Jesus Christ."

In another letter to his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, Pastor Saeed Abedini wrote, "... In the Bible we are all considered brothers and sisters despite our race, color or nationality."

Even though we have many Christians in America, not everyone is treated like a brother and sister. Please call Governor Mary Fallin at (405-521-2342) to ask her to sign into law HB 1403 The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma which protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost welcomes all kinds of people and calls creyentes (believers) friends. Jesus Christ says in Matthew 8:11 English Standard Version Bible, "I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." He says in John 15:14 Amplified Bible, "You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do."


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Hasty and Happy Don't Often Go Together

An African proverb from Kenya and Ethiopia says, "Hasty marriages bring hasty divorces."

Sometimes we can fall in love and marry a fantasy. How many people thoroughly communicate their beliefs about spirituality, sex, money and other areas of life and seek to learn these from their potential spouse and his/her family before marriage?

Many people in America have participated in sex outside of marriage. Not everyone has the same beliefs about it. Some spouses are able to receive forgiveness from God for participating in sex outside of marriage, but they don't extend that forgiveness to their spouse and distrust their spouse for some or all of their marriage. Some spouses also misinterpret uninhibited sex as a sign of sexual infidelity. Many other marital, sexual misinterpretations and mistreatment goes on.

What precisely are your expectations of marriage?

Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7:12 Complete Jewish Bible, "“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets."

Don't you want someone to understand and appreciate the real you? Wouldn't spouses, family and friends want likewise? Communication and compassion are critical.

While we can share a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost with whosoever, whosoever cannot be in our circle of intimacy.

Proverbs 18:22 Amplified Bible says, "He who finds a [true] wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord." A true wife wants a true husband. A good marriage is the fellowship of two spiritually mature Christians who are continuously cooperating with God to change into His likeness.

Many people receive Christ, but refuse to grow in their relationship with Christ, themselves and other people. The Bible gives us the blueprint for living after having received a relationship with God the Father, God the Son and Messiah Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. Joshua 1:8 Amplified Bible says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success." Some people want to succeed in their relationships and other areas of life, but they are not willing to do what it takes to succeed. Love includes discipline. Brian Tracy writes in his book No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline 21 Ways to Achieve Lasting Happiness and Success, "One of the most important requirements for success, once you have decided what it is that you want, is the quality of willingness. Successful people are willing to pay the price, whatever it is and for as long as it takes, until they achieve the results they desire. Everyone wants to be successful . . . . But most people are not willing to pay the price. Occasionally, they may be wiling to pay part of the price, but they are not willing to pay the whole price. They always hold back. They always have some excuse or rationalization for not disciplining themselves to do everything that they need to do to achieve their goals."

Many of the qualities we seek in a spouse are desirable for friends too. He Peirong is not married to Chen Guangcheng; they are friends and human rights activists. He Peirong was not one of Chen Guangcheng's first followers, but later she became a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China.

Standing up for human rights in China is a threat to one's own life and the lives of one's family and friends because China is not a free and open society. Making these decisions should not be done lightly neither should the decision to marry someone be made lightly.

Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

"Abre tu boca por el mudo en el juicio de todos los desvalidos," dice Proverbios 31:8 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. Proverbs 31:8 Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die."

Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The US State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 572,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org. In a February 18, 2013, letter to his wife, Pastor Abedini wrote about physical and psychological abuse inflicted on him to compel him to deny his faith in Jesus Christ. He also wrote of plans to persevere in his relationship with God and to share it with others: "There are empty containers who are thirsty for a taste of the Living Water and we can quench their thirst by giving them Jesus Christ."

Sometimes our relationships are difficult because we made wrong choices to enter certain relationships and/or wrong choices within the relationship. Other times our relationships are difficult because we are growing spiritually and are being attacked by the kingdom of darkness. No matter the reason for relationship difficulties, a beautiful hymn to sing that Abolitionist and Women's Rights Activist Sojourner Truth sang is:

"In my trials -- Lord walk with me.
In my trials -- Lord walk with me.
When my heart is almost breaking
Lord walk with me . . . "

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Not Famous But Fundamental To The Kingdom Of God

Not all of Jesus Christ's 12 apostles have the same level of fame. For example, Peter is more recognized than Bartholomew. Matthew 10:1-4 New Living Translation Bible says, "Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. Here are the names of the twelve apostles:

first, Simon (also called Peter),
then Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James (son of Zebedee),
John (James’s brother),
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew (the tax collector),
James (son of Alphaeus),
Thaddaeus,
Simon (the zealot),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)."

Being less famous does not mean that someone is not fundamental to the Kingdom of God.

Many have heard of Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks, known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Few have heard of Civil Rights Activist Jo Ann Robinson. Both were essential to the Civil Rights Movement. Before Rosa Parks many black men and women had been asked to get off the bus because they were black including Jo Ann Robinson and two teenagers named Mary Louise Smith and Claudette Colvin.

It was Jo Ann Robinson and her teacher friends and fellow activists who wrote the following letter and distributed it through 52,500 leaflets in black neighborhoods igniting the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott to end racial segregation:
"This is for Monday, December 5, 1955

Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown into jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down.

It is the second time since the Claudette Colbert (sic) case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing This has to be stopped.

Negroos (sic) have rights, too, for if Negroos did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negroos, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother.

This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, oranywhere (sic) on Monday.

You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus.

You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off of all buses Monday." (Freedom Walkers The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman)

Not only did African Americans and others stay off the bus on Monday, they stayed off for more than one year, which helped the US Supreme Court and Montgomery, Alabama, government to end racial segregation on the public buses and other areas of life.

Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?

He Peirong, a human rights advocate and blogger, is also a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China.

A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

He Peirong is in China.

How many human rights activists will seek to leave China? Eva Pils, an associate professor of law in Hong Kong told Mark McDonald of the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times in his May 7, 2012, article "In the Chen Case, Collateral Damage," that for activists to leave China is “a hugely difficult decision, even for those who have been badly tortured.”

Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)

Nevertheless, some risk going into undemocractic countries and pay a high price for it. Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The U.S. State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 570,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org. In a February 18, 2013, letter to his wife, Pastor Abedini wrote about physical and psychological abuse inflicted on him to compel him to deny his faith in Jesus Christ. He also wrote of plans to persevere in his relationship with God and to share it with others: "There are empty containers who are thirsty for a taste of the Living Water and we can quench their thirst by giving them Jesus Christ."

An African proverb from Kenya says, "On the way to one's beloved, there are no hills."

What are some hills you have climbed on the way to your beloved?

Monday, April 22, 2013

Involuntary Sterilization Is A Global Issue

In 1944 Fannie Lou Townsend became Fannie Lou Hamer when she married Perry "Pap" Hamer. The couple were looking forward to having children. But no matter how many times they enjoyed sexual intercourse no children were created.

That's because unknown to Fannie and Pap a Mississippi doctor sterilized Fannie without her consent. Fannie was the youngest of Jim Townsend's and Lou Ella Townsend's 20 children. The Mississippi doctor thought that he could help reduce the black population by sterilizing women like Fannie.

Involuntary sterilization happens in America and globally. According to Financial Times, the Chinese Health Ministry reported that since 1971, 196 million sterilizations and 336 abortions have been performed in China. Many of these are involuntary.

Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

As a young person Fannie Lou worshiped at the Stranger's Home Baptist Church and became a creyente (believer) in God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost.

"If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up," says Fred Korematsu regarding the forced detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Fannie Lou Hamer became a civil rights activist fighting for the rights of black people to vote without barriers like literacy tests and poll taxes and to have representation in political parties. In 1964 Fannie Lou and several black and white members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to help African Americans gain greater representation in Mississippi politics. The regular Mississippi Democratic Party, known as the Regulars, did not admit black members. The MFDP changed its name to the Mississippi Loyalist Democratic Party. After a couple of tries, in 1968 all of the party's delegates were seated at the Democratic National Convention.

The free speech we enjoy in America does not exist in China. Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security. Bale told CNN, "What I really wanted to do was shake the man's hand and tell him what an inspiration he is."

Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.

Those doing dark deeds do not want the light shined on them.

The Chinese government has authorized mass killing of babies in China. When Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Israel, more than 2,000 years ago Herod authorized mass killing of all baby boys in Bethlehem. Great good is in China for the government to be so aggressively killing people.

Romans 12:21 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good."

Instead of bitterness over her involuntary sterilization, in addition to her civil rights' work Fannie Lou Hamer and Pap Hamer adopted four children.

Instead of bitterness over being in prison for his Christian faith and Christian works Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini has chosen forgiveness and perseverance. He was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children, who live in the US state of Idaho. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The U.S. State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 570,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org.

Instead of bitterness over his jail time, house arrest and persecution of family and friends, Chen Guangcheng is continuing to fight against forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China and a lack of human rights and civil rights in China.

A Malagasy African proverb says, "Let not your love be like a torrent: heavy at first but swiftly abating."

Recommend this article on Google. Tweet with me @Michelelove30. Leave an on-line comment sharing the victory of love over evil.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Love Is Like A Flower That Has To Be Cultivated

Discrimination in its multitude of forms is destructive. Sometimes those who are wrong about many things recognize some truths. Deceased Rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur says in part of his song "Letter to My Unborn Child" which he describes as a "love letter:"

"To my unborn child..
To my unborn child .. in case I
don't make it
Just remember daddy loves you
To my unborn child...
To my unborn child..

I'm writing you a letter
This is to my unborn child
Wanna let you know I love you
Love you, if you didn't know I feel
this way.
How I, think about you every day
I have so much to say..."

Fathers, mothers, babies and others are involved in a pregnancy. No matter how much fathers may love their unborn children, in America and other countries the law denies fathers legal rights in the abortion-decision-making.

Nevertheless, fathers are obviously involved in the creation of new human life. Vincent M. Rue, Ph.D., writes in his article, ""The Hollow Men": Male Grief & Trauma Following Abortion," "Men’s responses to abortion are varied, like men themselves. How abortion impacts men is complicated by the decision-making that precedes the abortion. Prior to a woman aborting her child, there are at least seven scenarios of male involvement: (1) he does not know she is pregnant and she aborts without his knowledge; (2) he opposes the abortion and says so openly; (3) he knows about the pregnancy but hides his true feelings or beliefs against abortion from the woman, out of his attempt to “love” her and affirm her rights over her body; (4) he is ambivalent about abortion and simply goes along with his partner’s decision to abort; (5) he supports and encourages her decision to abort; (6) he pressures her to abort, even threatening to leave her if she doesn’t; or (7) he abandons her physically and emotionally and refuses any responsibility for her or her choices."

Chen Guangcheng is a father of two children. He didn't abandon his children or other unborn babies and their families. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.

Most of us came to be through God's will and sexual intercourse.

Sexuality is beautiful and designed by God for both singles and married people. God values the rewards and responsibilities of human relationships so much that He teaches us to set aside partner sex for marriage among one husband, one wife and one God.

Pastors Annie and Kermy Otero say in the song "Nuestro Amor" on the album Tu Compania, "Nuestro amor es una flor hermosa cultivada por los dos... Su fortaleza es el Senor (Our love is a beautiful flower cultivated by both of us. Our strength is in God.) 

Love has to be cultivated continuously. Sometimes spouses and people in other relationships fail to pluck up the weeds of aloofness, selfishness, etc. Sometimes we are aware of our weed-like behavior. Othertimes we are not.

Talk to God like David did in Psalm 139. David says in Psalm 139:23-24 Complete Jewish Bible, "Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts. See if there is in me any hurtful way, and lead me along the eternal way."

Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," audio broadcast, "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person."

Being able to spend the rest of life with a spouse is a privilege that can be plucked away at any time whether we are a US citizen or a citizen of another country. Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.

"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."

Torture and reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US.

Chen Guangcheng stood up to China regarding their forced abortion and forced sterilization practices. Pastor Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight year prison sentence. Write a letter. Sign a petition to free Saeed Abedini from Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, at http://www.savesaeed.org.

God gives us life. Jiroemon Kimura celebrated his 116th birthday on April 19, 2013, in Japan making him the world's oldest living man according to the Guinness World Records. A Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, at 115 Guinness World Records says is the world's oldest living woman. Jeanne Louise Calment was 122 when she died in 1997 in France; she holds the record for the world's longest living person.

Long life filled with the love of God--what a wonderful desire that can be fulfilled. Psalm 37:4 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "Do what the Lord wants, and he will give you your heart’s desire."


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Nameless But Not Voiceless

Kim Nam Jo born in Korea writes in the poem "My Baby Has No Name Yet" translated by Ko Won:

"My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or a puppy
my baby is not named yet.

What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.

Starry field of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?

My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours."

Many Chinese baby boys and baby girls didn't get a name before they were forcibly aborted. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. Many babies in countries across the globe didn't get a name before they were aborted. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed. 

Chen Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, didn't start out speaking up for the unborn. A self-taught lawyer, Guangcheng, helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures. Guangcheng became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.

Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security.

Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.

Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape.

Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013,  Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)

When asked about having regrets on speaking out about forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, Guangcheng told Anderson Cooper of CNN through an interpreter, "I have no regrets."

During an April 8, 2013, George W. Bush Institute interview Guangcheng recommended that Americans listen to various Chinese media to learn the ways that freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to protest are missing in China and human rights violations are being committed.

"As long as there is one ... oppressed human being in this world the struggle la lucha continua," says Dr. Georgia McMurray, educator, writer, activist who had the progressively degenerative muscle disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Guangcheng recommended in the George W. Bush Institute interview that once people are informed about the situation in China they can show support for life, freedom and human rights by wearing dark sunglasses like he wears, blogging or something else according to ability.

"Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman," says Marian Anderson, singer and civil rights advocate.

Educator and Writer Elie Wiesel says, "Remember: silence helps the killer, never his victims."

No one healthy wants to be harmed or killed. Jesus Christ teaches in Matthew 7:12 Complete Jewish Bible, "“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets."

A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues."
  
God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1) is able to give us to strength to speak and to act in love. When we become creyentes (believers) we give up our life and God's life lives through us. Galatians 2:20 English Standard Version Bible says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Awaking a Sleeping Giant

Frederick Douglass started out as a slave named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. When he was hired out by his slave master to work in a Baltimore, Maryland, shipyard, he met a free-born, African-American woman named Anna Murray. Bailey and Murray fell in love.

Galatians 5:13-14 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”"

Murray used her freedom and finances to help Bailey get his freedom. Using money that Murray gave Bailey and another friend's borrowed identification papers, Bailey escaped from slavery in Maryland to New York, which was considered the "grand station" of the Underground Railroad. In New York Bailey met from African-American Abolitionist and Author David Ruggles.

Later Murray left Maryland too. She met Bailey in New York.

Reverend James W.C. Pennington, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York, was born a slave in Maryland who later escaped to New York. Pennington earned a doctorate of divinity from Heidelberg University in Germany and had the honor of marrying Frederick Bailey and Anna Murray. 

Together the married couple left for Massachusetts where Bailey changed his name to Douglass to escape slave hunters. In Massachusetts Douglass met William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist and newspaper publisher of The Liberator, and began his own career as an abolitionist. Douglass became a speaker, writer and activist. He wrote books and published his own newspaper called North Star, which is also the name of a newspaper I wrote for and edited in high school and the name of the star runaway slaves used while traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom.

Douglass' North Star's motto is "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."

Douglass spent his youth in slavery and forced silence about slavery's evils. As an adult he spoke. A Dutch proverb says, "Sooner or later, the truth comes to light." 

Like Douglass' slave authorities tried to keep him submissive and silent, Chinese authorities tried to keep Chen Guangcheng submissive and silent. Guangcheng became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy. Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, Internet access blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who wears dark sunglasses because he is blind, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and two children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million American babies have been killed. 

Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security.

Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.

Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape.

Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)

When asked about having regrets on speaking out about forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, Guangcheng told Anderson Cooper of CNN through a translator, "I have no regrets."

During an April 8, 2013, George W. Bush Institute interview Guangcheng recommended that Americans listen to various Chinese media to learn the ways that freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to protest are missing in China and human rights violations are being committed.

A Persian proverb says, "Opportunity should be grabbed."

Chen recommended that once people are informed about the situation in China they can show support for life, freedom and human rights by wearing dark sunglasses like he wears, blogging or something else according to ability.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese forces that bombed Pearl Harbor bringing World War II to America, says about the attack, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" (Japan Enchantment of the World.)

What are some ways to stand up for life, love and liberty?

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Elderly, Disabled, Unborn, Strangers, Freedom, Love

Sometimes elderly African-American slaves were freed not as a favor but as a means to cut off the expense of providing food, clothing, shelter, etc. for those who were sick and/or disabled and could no longer produce at previous levels. Such was the case of elderly, married, slave couple James Baumfree and Mau Mau Bett Baumfree. The Baumfree's slavemaster, Charles Hardenbergh, became sick and died. What to do with his estate?

Since James Baumfree was sick and disabled he was freed, and his wife Mau Mau Bett was freed to take care of him. Hardenbergh also owned the Baumfree's children who were put on the auction block and sold to another slave master since they were young and could work much.

Hardenbergh was of Dutch heritage. He also spoke English, but deliberately did not allow his slaves to learn English, adding a layer of difficulty for his slaves to escape slavery since English is the primary language in America. So when Mau Mau Bett sought employment to support herself and her husband after they were freed from slavery her employment options were limited because she spoke Dutch instead of English. One day Mau Mau Bett went into a coma and died. James died of starvation because no one could take care of him after Mau Mau died.

No matter what age we are or what abilities we have or do not have, God loves us. God is good to His friends and even His enemies. Matthew 5:43-45 New Living Translation Bible says, "“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike."

An African proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers."

Discrimination preys upon those who are strangers, sick, disabled, too young to speak up for themselves and others. The Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act of Oklahoma protects the elderly, seriously ill and disabled by preventing medical providers from denying individuals life-saving treatment based on their quality of life.

Sadly discrimination is widespread. In Frederick, Maryland, a young man, Robert Ethan Saylor, was killed in a movie theater in January 2013 because people didn't understand someone with Down Syndrome. Many unborn boys and girls are being discriminated against because of their place of residence and age. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. And so many other people are being discriminated against.

Chen Guangcheng is helping to stop some discrimination. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy. Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off and bright lights shinning on his house at night.

Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to what became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

When Guangcheng was under house arrest in Shangdong, China, Actor Christian Bale tried but failed to visit the activist to publicize his plight.

Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.

Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape.

Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013,  Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)

A Japanese proverb says, "An evil act runs a thousand miles."

Discrimination, all types of abortion, involuntary sterilization and a lack of free speech are evil acts to be exposed, eliminated and replaced by the love of God. 1 John 4:7-11 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah for our sins. Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another."

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Grief, Sex, Life, Love

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, poet and political activist, writes in her poem "The Slave Mother:"
"Heard you that shriek? It rose
So wildly on the air,
It seemed as if a burden'd heart
Was breaking in despair.

Saw you those hands so sadly clasped--
The bowed and feeble head--
The shuddering of that fragile form--
That look of grief and dread?

Saw you the sad, imploring eye?
Its every glance was pain,
As if a storm of agony
Were sweeping through the brain.

She is a mother, pale with fear,
Her boy clings to her side,
And in her kirtle vainly tries
His trembling form to hide.

He is not hers, although she bore
For him a mother's pains;
He is not hers, although her blood
Is coursing through his veins!

He is not hers, for cruel hands
May rudely tear apart
The only wreath of household love
That binds her breaking heart.

His love has been a joyous light
That o'er her pathway smiled,
A fountain gushing ever new,
Amid life's desert wild.

His lightest word has been a tone
Of music round her heart,
Their lives a streamlet blent in one--
Oh, Father! must they part?

They tear him from her circling arms,
Her last and fond embrace.
Oh! never more may her sad eyes
Gaze on his mournful face.

No marvel, then, these bitter shrieks
Disturb the listening air:
She is a mother, and her heart
Is breaking in despair." 

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who was born free and later married Fenton Harper, had an opportunity to experience her own shrieks. When she married Fenton, he was a widower and father of three children. After they married, they had a child. Fenton Harper died leaving Frances a widow and four children fatherless.

We all are connected to other people. Each time someone dies, others grieve.

Grief has a growth aspect. A Persian proverb says, "One can shut the town gate, but not people's mouths."

Hannah Rose is the mother of two deceased children; Luke Shiloh died as the result of an abortion; Lily Katherine died as the result of a late-term miscarriage. Hannah Rose grieves the loss of her children, so do family members and others. Rose spoke with her sister at Ellerslie Leadership Training on April 13, 2012, about grief, life, love and God. Her sister says about Lily's death, "It tore me to pieces;" "I cried so hard and so much my head hurt." In addition to speaking Rose also blogs at http://www.roseandherlily.com.

Fathers are also affected by the loss of a child. Rock star Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith writes in his autobiography Walk This Way about his abortion experience, “It was a big crisis. It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. … You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”

In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. 

A lot of lost family members need to be grieved. Chen Guangcheng is also helping with the grieving process and to stop loss of life. Chen Guangcheng is married to Yuan Weijing and has two children. Guangcheng, his family, friends and others have been subjected to persecution. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy. Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest.

"Tejas" is the name the Spanish gave to the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."

Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in China in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife and children.

On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.

Sometimes human life begins through brutal sexual relations, but God designed for sexual relations to be beautiful. A bed is not the only place for married people to make love. King Solomon's Shulammite wife says to him in Song of Solomon 7:10-11 New Living Translation Bible,"Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers."

While most martial love making will not produce a new life, a Nembe African proverb advises, "Shy semen won't give birth."

Don't be shy in marital lovemaking. All people don't be shy to speak out against all types of abortion and involuntary sterilization and for life, love, freedom, justice and all that is good like our God. Manga Messiah says to His believers, "... But you will be my witnesses!!!....In Jerusalem...and to every nation...!...and to the end of time!"