1 Corinthians 11:11-12 Amplified Bible says, "Nevertheless, in [the plan of] the Lord and from His point of view woman is not apart from and independent of man, nor is man aloof from and independent of woman; For as woman was made from man, even so man is also born of woman; and all [whether male or female go forth] from God [as their Author]." God's ideal of working together in harmony under the leadership of God is not always implemented in reality. Where God's ideals are not implemented oppression is.
Young Molly Welsh was an employee in the late 17th century in Britain. Her employer said she stole a pail of milk. Welsh said a cow kicked over the pail and spilled the milk. The quarrel ended with Welsh's employer arresting her.
British law allowed for Molly to be hung for stealing. Instead she was sent to a tobacco farm in Maryland, which was a colony of Britain at the time.
For seven years Welsh worked as an indentured servant. Then she earned her freedom and rented a farm close to the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Within a few years she bought a small farm and two slaves one of which was a man with the last name Bannaka from the African country Senegal who said he had been a prince in his homeland.
Molly Welsh freed Bannaka and her other slave around 1696 and married Bannaka whose name changed to Banneky. They stayed on their farm because a marriage between a black man and a white woman wasn't legal.
Their eldest of four daughters, Mary, married a man named Robert who was from Guinea West Africa. Robert kept Mary's name of Banneky.
Mary and Robert Banneky had three girls and one boy named Benjamin born November 9, 1731. This Benjamin is the Benjamin Banneker famous in history as an astronomer, mathematician, inventor and writer. Molly Welsh was also very fond of her grandson who she introduced to the Bible and encouraged his love of learning.
An African Swahili proverb says, "The way you bring up a child is he way it grows up." Benjamin Banneker grew up in a family where women and men of different races loved each other. They also valued equality and freedom and were able to live and work together harmoniously under the leadership of God.
Benjamin Banneker was a free African American man who lived during the time of legal African American slavery in the United States. In 1791 Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson who was secretary of state to President George Washington and had earlier drafted and signed the US Declaration of Independence, which says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The Chinese invented fireworks. Banneker's letter was fireworks comparing African American slavery to the bondage of the American colonies before they obtained independence from Britain. Banneker's letter to Jefferson advocating African American equality and freedom became famous and says:
"Suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms of the British crown were exerted, with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude; look back, I entreat you ....You were then impressed with proper ideas of the great violation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature; but, sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence, so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others."
The Brazo River in Texas was named Los Brazos de Dios which means In the Arms of God. God does not use His arms for criminal acts to oppress humanity. He has His arms open to a now and forever relationship with a wide variety of people. John 17:3 Amplified Bible says, "And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."
God is the Author of freedom, equality, peace and all that is good and wants to share His goodness with many. Many Christians and Christian ideas are in America and elsewhere. Today in America Welsh and Bannaka would not have to hide from the law their interracial, marital love on a Maryland farm; African Americans are not subject to slavery, and Welsh would not be hanged for allegedly stealing in Britain. However, some people are still oppressed. "As long as there is one ... oppressed human being in this world the struggle la lucha continua," said Dr. Georgia McMurray, educator, writer, activist who had the progressively degenerative muscle disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
On July 4th America celebrates independence from Britain. The ultimate source of oppression is Satan. God is the Liberator. Is there a day you celebrate your liberation from Satan? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Showing posts with label African American Slavery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African American Slavery. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Balanced, Beautiful, Biblical Living
Hebrews 13:20-21 Amplified Bible says, "Now may the God of peace [Who is the Author and the Giver of peace], Who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood [that sealed, ratified] the everlasting agreement (covenant, testament), Strengthen (complete, perfect) and make you what you ought to be and equip you with everything good that you may carry out His will; [while He Himself] works in you and accomplishes that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ (the Messiah); to Whom be the glory forever and ever (to the ages of the ages). Amen (so be it)." God wants all good things for His creyentes (believers). Former Mexican President Benito Juarez said, "The respect for the rights of others is peace."
Slavery and peace are incompatible. June 19th is Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day in the United States of America. Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of African-American slavery in the United States of America.
On June 18, 2013, the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which puts a national prohibition on abortions of unborn girls and unborn boys aged 20 weeks and older. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act respects the rights of the unborn who are people too deserving of peace, freedom and other good gifts from God.
God knows how to give good gifts. In addition to giving creyentes eternal life, God gave creyentes sabbaths to worship Him and to keep economic activity as a balanced part of our lives instead of consuming our lives. One sabbath God gave lasts for one year in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a foreshadow of better things to come in the New Testament. Dads, moms, children, singles and everyone benefits when a one-year-and-more of paid leave is a global employment reality. Biblical living is beautiful, balanced living.
The Chinese invented the toothbrush. A clean mouth promotes dental health, beautiful teeth and fresh breath. May we be cleansed from the unhealthy, ugly disrespect of people through slavery, abortion and excessive economic work. May we celebrate God and the good life He gave us.
Slavery and peace are incompatible. June 19th is Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day in the United States of America. Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of African-American slavery in the United States of America.
On June 18, 2013, the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which puts a national prohibition on abortions of unborn girls and unborn boys aged 20 weeks and older. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act respects the rights of the unborn who are people too deserving of peace, freedom and other good gifts from God.
God knows how to give good gifts. In addition to giving creyentes eternal life, God gave creyentes sabbaths to worship Him and to keep economic activity as a balanced part of our lives instead of consuming our lives. One sabbath God gave lasts for one year in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a foreshadow of better things to come in the New Testament. Dads, moms, children, singles and everyone benefits when a one-year-and-more of paid leave is a global employment reality. Biblical living is beautiful, balanced living.
The Chinese invented the toothbrush. A clean mouth promotes dental health, beautiful teeth and fresh breath. May we be cleansed from the unhealthy, ugly disrespect of people through slavery, abortion and excessive economic work. May we celebrate God and the good life He gave us.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Courage And Common Sense
Courage should be coupled with common sense. After Frederick Douglass published his book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845, Douglass sent his former slave owner, Thomas Auld, a copy of the book.
The Chinese invented the umbrella. Sometimes we need our friends to cover our courage, so that a bad situation doesn't rain on us.
Friends helped Douglass to get out of the United States and to seek refuge in England, which had abolished slavery in 1807.
By 1846 friends purchased Douglass' freedom from Thomas Auld. They also gave Douglass money to start an anti-slavery newspaper. By 1847 Douglass published the North Star. Former president and friend of Abraham Lincoln Benito Juarez said, "The respect for the rights of others is peace." The North Star was not only concerned with the rights of African Americans. The motto of the North Star was "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Proverbs 3:27-28 Amplified Bible says, "Withhold not good from those to whom it is due [its rightful owners], when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, Go, and come again; and tomorrow I will give it—when you have it with you."
Douglass' friends could have spent their money on something other than purchasing Douglass' freedom and his newspaper. To have chosen to spend their money elsewhere would have probably meant that Douglass would be returned to slavery, separated from his wife and children, unable to provide for them economically and an international voice of inspiration for human rights would have been silenced.
Is God telling you to help someone?
Instead of making excuses, why not consider all the ways good could come out of it, and do what God says to do. A Japanese proverb says, "Do quickly what is good."
The Chinese invented the umbrella. Sometimes we need our friends to cover our courage, so that a bad situation doesn't rain on us.
Friends helped Douglass to get out of the United States and to seek refuge in England, which had abolished slavery in 1807.
By 1846 friends purchased Douglass' freedom from Thomas Auld. They also gave Douglass money to start an anti-slavery newspaper. By 1847 Douglass published the North Star. Former president and friend of Abraham Lincoln Benito Juarez said, "The respect for the rights of others is peace." The North Star was not only concerned with the rights of African Americans. The motto of the North Star was "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Proverbs 3:27-28 Amplified Bible says, "Withhold not good from those to whom it is due [its rightful owners], when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, Go, and come again; and tomorrow I will give it—when you have it with you."
Douglass' friends could have spent their money on something other than purchasing Douglass' freedom and his newspaper. To have chosen to spend their money elsewhere would have probably meant that Douglass would be returned to slavery, separated from his wife and children, unable to provide for them economically and an international voice of inspiration for human rights would have been silenced.
Is God telling you to help someone?
Instead of making excuses, why not consider all the ways good could come out of it, and do what God says to do. A Japanese proverb says, "Do quickly what is good."
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
A Way To Help Family And Friends
1 Timothy 5:8 Amplified Bible says, "If anyone fails to provide for his relatives, and especially for those of his own family, he has disowned the faith [by failing to accompany it with fruits] and is worse than an unbeliever [who performs his obligation in these matters]." The Llamoca family may or may not be creyentes (believers). They are followers of the practice of provision advocated in 1 Timothy 5:8.
Nelson D. Schwartz writes in the May 6, 2013, The New York Times article "Wave of Immigrants Transforms a Small Town," "Fourteen years after she arrived from Lima, Peru, and started working as a baby sitter, Itziar Llamoca now owns Fiesta Place, which makes traditional decorations and balloon arrangements for family events like baptisms, weddings and the girl's coming-of-age party called the quinceanera. She earned her associate's and bachelor's degrees from colleges in Westchester and bought the store with her sister from its original owners several years ago.
Ms. Llamoca, who now holds American citizenship, did not rely on bank loans to make the purchase. "For us, it was easier to borrow money from the family," she said."
A Twi African proverb says, "Poverty makes a free man become a slave." Owning a business is one of the best ways to escape poverty and to live in the freedom of financial independence. Family can help family find a way to financial independence through financial contributions to get a business going, by working together in a business and by other ways.
Giving donations are better than giving loans. Romans 13:8 Amplified Bible says, "Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor [who practices loving others] has fulfilled the Law [relating to one’s fellowmen, meeting all its requirements]."
Booker T. Washington, an African American leader and head of Tuskegee Institute, believed in combining education and work training. He wrote in his book Up from Slavery, "Great men cultivate love ... only little men cherish a spirit of hatred."
Christopher Yuan, the son of Chinese immigrants, had to overcome hatred of Christians. At one time in his life he was an illegal drug abuser and dealer who had frequent sex with men. Time in prison and a HIV-positive diagnosis helped him to read a Bible. Christopher Yuan eventually co-wrote with his mother, Angela Yuan, the book Out Of A Far Country A gay son's journey to God. A broken mother's search for hope. In the book he writes, "As I continued to read the Bible, I came across Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (NASB)--passages normally used to condemn gays and lesbians to a fiery fate. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." But I realized that God didn't call lesbians and gay men abominations. He called it an abomination. What God condemned was the act, not the person. For so long, I had gotten the message from the Christian protestors at gay-pride parades that the God of the Bible hated people like me, because we were abominations. But after reading these passages, I saw that God didn't hate me; nor was he condemning me to an inescapable destiny of torment. But rather, it was the sex he condemned, and yet he still wanted an intimate relationship with me."
God wants an intimate relationship with all kinds of people. God also wants all kinds of people to love each other as much as they love themselves. Family and friendship are for everyone. A Korean proverb says, "The fortunate man has bread and friends."
What are some wonderful ways family and friends have helped each other to be financially independent? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on the social media Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Nelson D. Schwartz writes in the May 6, 2013, The New York Times article "Wave of Immigrants Transforms a Small Town," "Fourteen years after she arrived from Lima, Peru, and started working as a baby sitter, Itziar Llamoca now owns Fiesta Place, which makes traditional decorations and balloon arrangements for family events like baptisms, weddings and the girl's coming-of-age party called the quinceanera. She earned her associate's and bachelor's degrees from colleges in Westchester and bought the store with her sister from its original owners several years ago.
Ms. Llamoca, who now holds American citizenship, did not rely on bank loans to make the purchase. "For us, it was easier to borrow money from the family," she said."
A Twi African proverb says, "Poverty makes a free man become a slave." Owning a business is one of the best ways to escape poverty and to live in the freedom of financial independence. Family can help family find a way to financial independence through financial contributions to get a business going, by working together in a business and by other ways.
Giving donations are better than giving loans. Romans 13:8 Amplified Bible says, "Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor [who practices loving others] has fulfilled the Law [relating to one’s fellowmen, meeting all its requirements]."
Booker T. Washington, an African American leader and head of Tuskegee Institute, believed in combining education and work training. He wrote in his book Up from Slavery, "Great men cultivate love ... only little men cherish a spirit of hatred."
Christopher Yuan, the son of Chinese immigrants, had to overcome hatred of Christians. At one time in his life he was an illegal drug abuser and dealer who had frequent sex with men. Time in prison and a HIV-positive diagnosis helped him to read a Bible. Christopher Yuan eventually co-wrote with his mother, Angela Yuan, the book Out Of A Far Country A gay son's journey to God. A broken mother's search for hope. In the book he writes, "As I continued to read the Bible, I came across Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (NASB)--passages normally used to condemn gays and lesbians to a fiery fate. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." But I realized that God didn't call lesbians and gay men abominations. He called it an abomination. What God condemned was the act, not the person. For so long, I had gotten the message from the Christian protestors at gay-pride parades that the God of the Bible hated people like me, because we were abominations. But after reading these passages, I saw that God didn't hate me; nor was he condemning me to an inescapable destiny of torment. But rather, it was the sex he condemned, and yet he still wanted an intimate relationship with me."
God wants an intimate relationship with all kinds of people. God also wants all kinds of people to love each other as much as they love themselves. Family and friendship are for everyone. A Korean proverb says, "The fortunate man has bread and friends."
What are some wonderful ways family and friends have helped each other to be financially independent? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on the social media Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Love Immigrants
An East African proverb says, "When minds are the same, that which is far off will come." When 3,000 Mexican soldiers faced 6,000 invading French soldiers, a Mexican victory looked far off.
But Mexican soldiers asked Mexican farmers called campesinos to help fight, and united they defeated the French on May 5, 1862, in Puebla, Mexico. Mexican President Benito Juarez, who was of Native American heritage, made the victory a national celebration called Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May).
The French used defeat to renew their determination to fight and fought with Mexico while the Civil War was being fought in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy. France was interested in defeating Mexico, so that they could weaken the Union. France favored the Confederacy. Mexico was an ally of the Union.
Mexican President Benito Juarez and American President Abraham Lincoln both grew up in poverty and later on became lawyers and presidents of their nations; they were also political allies.
The Mexicans kept defeating the French and celebrating each May 5th. After the Union defeated the Confederacy, President Lincoln sent soldiers to America's border with Mexico to help Mexico fight off the French. Of the 30,000 US troops sent, 20,000 were African Americans. Finally in 1867, France had enough of war and left Mexico.
A free Mexico was good for Mexicans, the Union and African Americans.
In the Bible book of Joshua God gave the Hebrews the Promised Land. God also has a nation for various groups of people. Boundaries can be beautiful.
Sometimes people need to leave the nation of their birth or choice and join another nation. Today and throughout American history Mexicans and other people have sought to join America. The Bible way is to welcome strangers and to make them friends and family, not to shackle them with debt, a long path to citizenship and splitting apart families.
Proverbs 17:17 Amplified Bible says, "A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity."
During African American slavery many friends helped runaway slaves escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad. While many advocates of slavery practiced splitting apart African American families, many abolitionists found ways to keep families together. God put children and parents together.
May 5th is also celebrated in Japan as Children's Day. Parents honor children by flying carp-shaped kites or banners.
Happy May 5th! Share stories of U.S. citizens helping immigrant families. Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on the social media Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Even more wonderful than being a free citizen family in an earthly nation is to be one in an eternal kingdom family. Today is Resurrection Sunday for Orthodox Christians when the resurrection of Jesus Christ from His death is celebrated. Are you a family member of the eternal kingdom of God? Talk to God and allow Him to give you a new kingdom life. John 1:12-13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God."
In China Qi means the foundation of courage, will and intention. Courage requires conviction in love. Immigrants and all people need love. 1 John 4:7-11 English Standard Version Bible says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
But Mexican soldiers asked Mexican farmers called campesinos to help fight, and united they defeated the French on May 5, 1862, in Puebla, Mexico. Mexican President Benito Juarez, who was of Native American heritage, made the victory a national celebration called Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May).
The French used defeat to renew their determination to fight and fought with Mexico while the Civil War was being fought in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy. France was interested in defeating Mexico, so that they could weaken the Union. France favored the Confederacy. Mexico was an ally of the Union.
Mexican President Benito Juarez and American President Abraham Lincoln both grew up in poverty and later on became lawyers and presidents of their nations; they were also political allies.
The Mexicans kept defeating the French and celebrating each May 5th. After the Union defeated the Confederacy, President Lincoln sent soldiers to America's border with Mexico to help Mexico fight off the French. Of the 30,000 US troops sent, 20,000 were African Americans. Finally in 1867, France had enough of war and left Mexico.
A free Mexico was good for Mexicans, the Union and African Americans.
In the Bible book of Joshua God gave the Hebrews the Promised Land. God also has a nation for various groups of people. Boundaries can be beautiful.
Sometimes people need to leave the nation of their birth or choice and join another nation. Today and throughout American history Mexicans and other people have sought to join America. The Bible way is to welcome strangers and to make them friends and family, not to shackle them with debt, a long path to citizenship and splitting apart families.
Proverbs 17:17 Amplified Bible says, "A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity."
During African American slavery many friends helped runaway slaves escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad. While many advocates of slavery practiced splitting apart African American families, many abolitionists found ways to keep families together. God put children and parents together.
May 5th is also celebrated in Japan as Children's Day. Parents honor children by flying carp-shaped kites or banners.
Happy May 5th! Share stories of U.S. citizens helping immigrant families. Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, VA 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on the social media Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Even more wonderful than being a free citizen family in an earthly nation is to be one in an eternal kingdom family. Today is Resurrection Sunday for Orthodox Christians when the resurrection of Jesus Christ from His death is celebrated. Are you a family member of the eternal kingdom of God? Talk to God and allow Him to give you a new kingdom life. John 1:12-13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God."
In China Qi means the foundation of courage, will and intention. Courage requires conviction in love. Immigrants and all people need love. 1 John 4:7-11 English Standard Version Bible says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
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?
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."
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."
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?
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."
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!"
"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!"
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Short Steps, Long View
God designed marriage to be days of delight and sweet nights. Genesis 2:23-25 Complete Jewish Bible says, "The man-person said, “At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed."
Biddy Mason didn't get God's plan. She got the responsibilities of a marriage-like situation without the rewards of legality and love. An African proverb says, "A polygamist suffers a lot." Biddy, an African American and Native American, suffered a lot. She was a slave of many masters including Robert and Rebecca Smith. Robert was the father of both Rebecca's and Biddy's children.
Slaves don't have too much say so in their own destiny. Robert decided to leave the American south and head west. He, his family, Biddy and his other slaves ended up in California. California was a free state.
When Biddy learned that California was a free state, she kept her thoughts of freedom for herself and her children, Ellen, Harriet and Ann, a secret.
Eventually Robert wanted to go to Texas, a slave state. Biddy let her secret out and said no way was she and her daughters going to Texas.
Biddy met many free blacks in California. Some were born free. Others escaped slavery. Biddy asked her friends about how to escape slavery.
With the help of friends Biddy presented a court petition for freedom. On January 21, 1856, Biddy, her daughters and other slaves of the Smith's were freed.
Many people dream of being married. Some people dry up in response to an unfulfilled dream. Others ask God for new dreams, and pursue them. Biddy's children didn't come from a dream husband, but she pursued freedom for herself, her daughters and others, and got it. With her freedom Biddy worked and acquired not only a house for herself and her daughters, but also other property. It wasn't easy. California had housing discrimination. Biddy decided to do something about the discrimination. Some of her property she rented to other blacks. Other property she donated for purposes like grocery stores, day-care centers and churches. Biddy was also one of the founding members of the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Everyone needs the right to live, survive and thrive.
Chen Guangcheng is married to Yuan Weijing. He is not in a forced marriage-like situation as Biddy was. However, 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.
Like Biddy surprised her slave master with an escape from slavery to freedom, Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer, surprised China by escaping from house arrest in April 2012 and entering 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.
Friends helped Guangcheng to flee from house arrest in China and to continue the human rights activism he was doing in China into the United States.
On Tuesday he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family'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 friends are afraid to help friends. 1 Peter 5:7 New Living Translation says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." That doesn't mean trouble will go away; it means we can be confident and courageous because trouble isn't going to stop God's purposes and plans to make His people more like Himself.
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 we are in the process of improving a marriage or another relationship, Satan, the kingdom of darkness and those under their influence get upset and stir up trouble. Don't get hung up on the trouble. Behold God and His plans, and move. Some change is immediate. Much change is long-term. Pasos cortos, vista larga (Short steps, long view.)
Biddy walked almost 2,000 miles from the American south to the West where she could get freedom. Guangcheng may have hoped to solve forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, but coming to America was a necessary step.
Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans were forced into detention during World War II. Japanese Americans and others had to take a lot of steps from the 1940s until 1988 to get Congress to pass and former President Ronald Reagan to sign legislation which apologized for the internment and said that the government's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." The US government eventually dispersed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000.
No matter how many steps it takes to live in love and freedom, take the steps.
Biddy Mason didn't get God's plan. She got the responsibilities of a marriage-like situation without the rewards of legality and love. An African proverb says, "A polygamist suffers a lot." Biddy, an African American and Native American, suffered a lot. She was a slave of many masters including Robert and Rebecca Smith. Robert was the father of both Rebecca's and Biddy's children.
Slaves don't have too much say so in their own destiny. Robert decided to leave the American south and head west. He, his family, Biddy and his other slaves ended up in California. California was a free state.
When Biddy learned that California was a free state, she kept her thoughts of freedom for herself and her children, Ellen, Harriet and Ann, a secret.
Eventually Robert wanted to go to Texas, a slave state. Biddy let her secret out and said no way was she and her daughters going to Texas.
Biddy met many free blacks in California. Some were born free. Others escaped slavery. Biddy asked her friends about how to escape slavery.
With the help of friends Biddy presented a court petition for freedom. On January 21, 1856, Biddy, her daughters and other slaves of the Smith's were freed.
Many people dream of being married. Some people dry up in response to an unfulfilled dream. Others ask God for new dreams, and pursue them. Biddy's children didn't come from a dream husband, but she pursued freedom for herself, her daughters and others, and got it. With her freedom Biddy worked and acquired not only a house for herself and her daughters, but also other property. It wasn't easy. California had housing discrimination. Biddy decided to do something about the discrimination. Some of her property she rented to other blacks. Other property she donated for purposes like grocery stores, day-care centers and churches. Biddy was also one of the founding members of the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Everyone needs the right to live, survive and thrive.
Chen Guangcheng is married to Yuan Weijing. He is not in a forced marriage-like situation as Biddy was. However, 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.
Like Biddy surprised her slave master with an escape from slavery to freedom, Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer, surprised China by escaping from house arrest in April 2012 and entering 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.
Friends helped Guangcheng to flee from house arrest in China and to continue the human rights activism he was doing in China into the United States.
On Tuesday he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family'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 friends are afraid to help friends. 1 Peter 5:7 New Living Translation says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." That doesn't mean trouble will go away; it means we can be confident and courageous because trouble isn't going to stop God's purposes and plans to make His people more like Himself.
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 we are in the process of improving a marriage or another relationship, Satan, the kingdom of darkness and those under their influence get upset and stir up trouble. Don't get hung up on the trouble. Behold God and His plans, and move. Some change is immediate. Much change is long-term. Pasos cortos, vista larga (Short steps, long view.)
Biddy walked almost 2,000 miles from the American south to the West where she could get freedom. Guangcheng may have hoped to solve forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, but coming to America was a necessary step.
Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans were forced into detention during World War II. Japanese Americans and others had to take a lot of steps from the 1940s until 1988 to get Congress to pass and former President Ronald Reagan to sign legislation which apologized for the internment and said that the government's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." The US government eventually dispersed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000.
No matter how many steps it takes to live in love and freedom, take the steps.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Send Salt to Your Enemy
By July 4, 1827, African-American slavery was illegal in the state of New York. Nevertheless, the Dumonts sold Peter, Sojourner Truth's son, to the Gedney family who sold Peter to another family that took Peter to Alabama.
Peter's sale was illegal. New York law prohibited blacks being sold or sent out of state to circumvent their being freed within the state. Sojourner Truth, who was named Isabella at the time, confronted Mrs. Dumont. "Mrs. Dumont replied, "A fine fuss to make about a little nigger!...A pity 'tis, the niggers are not all in Guinea!"
Isabella insisted, "I'll have my child again."
"How can you get him?" asked Mrs. Dumont. "And what have you to support him with, if you could? Have you any money?"
"No," replied Isabella. "I have no money, but God has enough." (Sojourner Truth Slave, Prophet, Legend by Carleton Mabee with Susan Mabee Newhouse.)
God helped Isabella/Sojourner Truth to free Peter by connecting with Quakers and lawyers like Herman M. Romeyn, Charles H. Ruggles and A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, who had served a term in Congress.
God also helped another New Yorker to connect with help to secure freedom. God sent Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer, some friends to help him flee from house arrest in China in April 2012 and to continue the human rights activism he was doing in China into the United States. Guangcheng played a key role in exposing forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced in China as part of China's One-Child Policy. Guangcheng now lives in New York and travels out of state.
On Tuesday he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family'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.
A few months ago Guangcheng received the 2012 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize, named after a deceased California congressman who was the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress, according to a January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert. The article says that the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice has given previous annual awards to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel and Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan hotel manager who hid and protected more than 1,200 refugees during Rwanda's genocide.
Guangcheng said regarding US negotiations with China in translated remarks read in English by actor and Tibet advocate Richard Gere, "There should be no compromise, even if there are large business interests at stake - dignity, freedom and justice are more important" (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
"Porque vosotros, hermanos, a libertad fuisteis llamados; solamente que no useis la libertad como ocasion para la carne, sino servios por amor los unos a los otros," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. The Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
When Sojourner Truth's son was freed, she did not use her liberty as an opportunity to nurture her flesh in isolation. Instead she spoke to many for the liberty of African Americans and women. Likewise when Chen Guangcheng was freed from China, he did not nurture his flesh in isolation in New York. Instead he has been speaking out for the freedom of his family, the unborn and all Chinese people.
Freedom for the maximum number of people also requires interaction with enemies. A Japanese Proverb says, "Send salt to your enemy."
Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans were forced into detention during World War II. The fight for Japanese-American/Asian-American justice took from the 1940s until 1988 when Congress passed and former President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment and said that the government's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." The US government eventually dispersed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Asian Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000.
Peter's sale was illegal. New York law prohibited blacks being sold or sent out of state to circumvent their being freed within the state. Sojourner Truth, who was named Isabella at the time, confronted Mrs. Dumont. "Mrs. Dumont replied, "A fine fuss to make about a little nigger!...A pity 'tis, the niggers are not all in Guinea!"
Isabella insisted, "I'll have my child again."
"How can you get him?" asked Mrs. Dumont. "And what have you to support him with, if you could? Have you any money?"
"No," replied Isabella. "I have no money, but God has enough." (Sojourner Truth Slave, Prophet, Legend by Carleton Mabee with Susan Mabee Newhouse.)
God helped Isabella/Sojourner Truth to free Peter by connecting with Quakers and lawyers like Herman M. Romeyn, Charles H. Ruggles and A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, who had served a term in Congress.
God also helped another New Yorker to connect with help to secure freedom. God sent Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer, some friends to help him flee from house arrest in China in April 2012 and to continue the human rights activism he was doing in China into the United States. Guangcheng played a key role in exposing forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced in China as part of China's One-Child Policy. Guangcheng now lives in New York and travels out of state.
On Tuesday he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family'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.
A few months ago Guangcheng received the 2012 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize, named after a deceased California congressman who was the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress, according to a January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert. The article says that the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice has given previous annual awards to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel and Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan hotel manager who hid and protected more than 1,200 refugees during Rwanda's genocide.
Guangcheng said regarding US negotiations with China in translated remarks read in English by actor and Tibet advocate Richard Gere, "There should be no compromise, even if there are large business interests at stake - dignity, freedom and justice are more important" (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
"Porque vosotros, hermanos, a libertad fuisteis llamados; solamente que no useis la libertad como ocasion para la carne, sino servios por amor los unos a los otros," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. The Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
When Sojourner Truth's son was freed, she did not use her liberty as an opportunity to nurture her flesh in isolation. Instead she spoke to many for the liberty of African Americans and women. Likewise when Chen Guangcheng was freed from China, he did not nurture his flesh in isolation in New York. Instead he has been speaking out for the freedom of his family, the unborn and all Chinese people.
Freedom for the maximum number of people also requires interaction with enemies. A Japanese Proverb says, "Send salt to your enemy."
Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans were forced into detention during World War II. The fight for Japanese-American/Asian-American justice took from the 1940s until 1988 when Congress passed and former President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment and said that the government's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." The US government eventually dispersed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Asian Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Black History and Chinese Abortions
The Philadelphia Female Antislavery Society invited James Forten, Sr., to speak on April 14, 1836. Some of what he said in his "The Tears of Those Who Will Be Left Behind" speech is, "Again, the South most earnestly and respectfully solicits the North to let the question [of] Slavery alone, and leave it to their bountiful honesty and humanity to settle. Why, honesty, I fear has fled from the South, long ago; sincerity has fallen asleep there, pity has hidden herself; justice cannot find the way; helper is not at home; charity lies dangerously ill; benevolence is under arrest; faith is nearly extinguished; truth has long since been buried, and conscience is nailed on the wall. Now, do you think it would be better to leave it to the bountiful honesty and humanity of the South to settle? No, no. Only yield to them in this one particular and they will find you vulnerable in every other."
In addition to speaking against African-American slavery and for African-American freedom (being an abolitionist,) James married an abolitionist. James Forten, Sr. (1766-1842) and his wife, Charlotte Vandine Forten (1785-1884,) raised their nine children in prosperity materially, spiritually and intellectually. They were Christians. James was one of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's wealthiest merchants. He owned a business producing sails for ships. His business employed his own sons and both black and white people. Charlotte was a businesswoman who invested in real estate. James and Charlotte were leading members in the free-black community in Philadelphia, which was America's largest free-black community. Charlotte along with the Forten daughters were founding members of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. James wrote letters and articles advocating justice and equality for black Americans and women published in various newspapers. James was also actively against forcing black people to leave America, which had become their country, to live in Africa or Haiti. James' and Charlotte's home was a frequent stop on the Underground Railroad which helped fugitive slaves to hide from their former slave masters on the path to freedom.
The Forten children are: Margaretta Forten (suffragist), Harriet Forten Purvis (abolitionist and suffragist), Robert Bridges Forten (abolitionist), Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis (abolitionist), James Forten, Jr., (abolitionist), William Deas Forten (abolitionist), Charlotte Forten, Mary Theresa Forten and Thomas Willing Francis Forten. James and Charlotte taught their children to select spouses who shared their values. The Forten children absorbed the lessons and selected spouses who were also speakers and writers for abolition and other justice issues like women's right to vote.
The Forten Christian activism extended to their grandchildren. A Swahili Proverb says, "The way you bring up a child is the way it grows up." With God the Holy Ghost in control of our lives, nothing good is impossible. Galatians 5:16 New Living Translation Bible says, "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." One of the Forten's granddaughters, Charlotte Forten Grimke, was a teacher to newly freed slaves on the South Carolina Sea Islands. She said, "Let us labor to acquire knowledge, to break down the barriers of prejudice and oppression...believing that if not for us, for another generation there is a brighter day in store...." One of the Fortens' grandsons, Charles Burleigh Purvis, became the first black American to oversee a hospital with his appointment at the Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Who are some more Forten family members who have made notable contributions to society?
In the Forten family instead of men and women waging war against each other, they waged war against evil. Author and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, says, "Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side."
Former US. President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery, helped push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which finally freed all the slaves nationwide in December 1865, led the United States through the American Civil War preserving the Union, and battled depression said, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Why don't we have a separate Federal holiday recognizing Lincoln?
Some are afraid of large families because they have bought fear-based propaganda. Yet 2 Timothy 2:7 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." Yes, one can motivate someone with fear. However, love is a more effective and enduring motivator. Fear creates false realities and causes fatalities. Love liberates and lengthens global good.
James Forten, Sr. and Charlotte Vandine Forten had nine children. Civil Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer was the youngest of 20 children. A doctor forced a sterilization on Fannie Lou Hamer because she was black.
Abortions and sterilizations are forced on women in China because the Chinese government fears too many Chinese. Since 1979, Chinese couples have been limited to one child by law in order to control the country's population. In October 2011, Feng Jianmei, a 22-year-old woman from the small village of Yuping in Zeng Jia Township, Shaanxi province, became pregnant with her second child. On June 2, 2012, while Feng was seven months pregnant with her second child, she was forced to have an abortion. On June 11, Feng's family posted graphic pictures of her aborted child on the Internet. The images soon became a viral phenomenon, sparking controversy within China and drawing international attention to the issue of forced abortions.
Pray and participate in positive activities to end China's forced abortion and forced sterilization policies. Rescues from forced abortions and forced sterilizations are possible. Women's Rights of China edited and produced a short video reporting that family planning officials broke into the home of husband and wife Li Fu and Cao Ruyi because Ruyi didn't have Chinese governmental pregnancy approval; when Ruyi was taken to a hospital for a forced abortion, it couldn't be done because a hospital bed was unavailable; through the efforts of Women's Rights in China, ChinaAid Founder and President Bob Fu and U.S. Congressman Christopher Smith, Ruyi was rescued and so was baby Li Dahai; yet Fu and Ruyi still face a fine of $15,000.00 for Ruyi's pregnancy and are not able to register baby Li Dahai's birth with the Chinese government. The Canada Free Press reported on 3/18/2013 that the lack of registration means, "In China’s authoritarian system, this means his existence is not recognized by the government and he cannot get a government-issued identification card, which is required for all basic activities of a citizen, including attending school, opening a bank account and even getting medical care."
Activists inside and outside China are working to stop forced abortions and forced sterilization. Chen Guangcheng, who was blind from an early age and self-taught in law, is a leading activist born in China who is now living in the United States. Today he was scheduled to testify before a U.S. congressional subcommittee.
Juan 18:37 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960 dice, "Le dijo entonces Pilato: Luego, eres tu rey? Respondio Jesus: Tu dices que yo soy rey. Yo para esto he nacido, y para esto he venido al mundo, para dar testimonio a la verdad. Todo aquel que es de la verdad, oye mi voz." John 18:37 Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
May la verdad (the truth) be heard and victorious.
In addition to speaking against African-American slavery and for African-American freedom (being an abolitionist,) James married an abolitionist. James Forten, Sr. (1766-1842) and his wife, Charlotte Vandine Forten (1785-1884,) raised their nine children in prosperity materially, spiritually and intellectually. They were Christians. James was one of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's wealthiest merchants. He owned a business producing sails for ships. His business employed his own sons and both black and white people. Charlotte was a businesswoman who invested in real estate. James and Charlotte were leading members in the free-black community in Philadelphia, which was America's largest free-black community. Charlotte along with the Forten daughters were founding members of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. James wrote letters and articles advocating justice and equality for black Americans and women published in various newspapers. James was also actively against forcing black people to leave America, which had become their country, to live in Africa or Haiti. James' and Charlotte's home was a frequent stop on the Underground Railroad which helped fugitive slaves to hide from their former slave masters on the path to freedom.
The Forten children are: Margaretta Forten (suffragist), Harriet Forten Purvis (abolitionist and suffragist), Robert Bridges Forten (abolitionist), Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis (abolitionist), James Forten, Jr., (abolitionist), William Deas Forten (abolitionist), Charlotte Forten, Mary Theresa Forten and Thomas Willing Francis Forten. James and Charlotte taught their children to select spouses who shared their values. The Forten children absorbed the lessons and selected spouses who were also speakers and writers for abolition and other justice issues like women's right to vote.
The Forten Christian activism extended to their grandchildren. A Swahili Proverb says, "The way you bring up a child is the way it grows up." With God the Holy Ghost in control of our lives, nothing good is impossible. Galatians 5:16 New Living Translation Bible says, "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." One of the Forten's granddaughters, Charlotte Forten Grimke, was a teacher to newly freed slaves on the South Carolina Sea Islands. She said, "Let us labor to acquire knowledge, to break down the barriers of prejudice and oppression...believing that if not for us, for another generation there is a brighter day in store...." One of the Fortens' grandsons, Charles Burleigh Purvis, became the first black American to oversee a hospital with his appointment at the Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Who are some more Forten family members who have made notable contributions to society?
In the Forten family instead of men and women waging war against each other, they waged war against evil. Author and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, says, "Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side."
Former US. President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery, helped push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which finally freed all the slaves nationwide in December 1865, led the United States through the American Civil War preserving the Union, and battled depression said, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Why don't we have a separate Federal holiday recognizing Lincoln?
Some are afraid of large families because they have bought fear-based propaganda. Yet 2 Timothy 2:7 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." Yes, one can motivate someone with fear. However, love is a more effective and enduring motivator. Fear creates false realities and causes fatalities. Love liberates and lengthens global good.
James Forten, Sr. and Charlotte Vandine Forten had nine children. Civil Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer was the youngest of 20 children. A doctor forced a sterilization on Fannie Lou Hamer because she was black.
Abortions and sterilizations are forced on women in China because the Chinese government fears too many Chinese. Since 1979, Chinese couples have been limited to one child by law in order to control the country's population. In October 2011, Feng Jianmei, a 22-year-old woman from the small village of Yuping in Zeng Jia Township, Shaanxi province, became pregnant with her second child. On June 2, 2012, while Feng was seven months pregnant with her second child, she was forced to have an abortion. On June 11, Feng's family posted graphic pictures of her aborted child on the Internet. The images soon became a viral phenomenon, sparking controversy within China and drawing international attention to the issue of forced abortions.
Pray and participate in positive activities to end China's forced abortion and forced sterilization policies. Rescues from forced abortions and forced sterilizations are possible. Women's Rights of China edited and produced a short video reporting that family planning officials broke into the home of husband and wife Li Fu and Cao Ruyi because Ruyi didn't have Chinese governmental pregnancy approval; when Ruyi was taken to a hospital for a forced abortion, it couldn't be done because a hospital bed was unavailable; through the efforts of Women's Rights in China, ChinaAid Founder and President Bob Fu and U.S. Congressman Christopher Smith, Ruyi was rescued and so was baby Li Dahai; yet Fu and Ruyi still face a fine of $15,000.00 for Ruyi's pregnancy and are not able to register baby Li Dahai's birth with the Chinese government. The Canada Free Press reported on 3/18/2013 that the lack of registration means, "In China’s authoritarian system, this means his existence is not recognized by the government and he cannot get a government-issued identification card, which is required for all basic activities of a citizen, including attending school, opening a bank account and even getting medical care."
Activists inside and outside China are working to stop forced abortions and forced sterilization. Chen Guangcheng, who was blind from an early age and self-taught in law, is a leading activist born in China who is now living in the United States. Today he was scheduled to testify before a U.S. congressional subcommittee.
Juan 18:37 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960 dice, "Le dijo entonces Pilato: Luego, eres tu rey? Respondio Jesus: Tu dices que yo soy rey. Yo para esto he nacido, y para esto he venido al mundo, para dar testimonio a la verdad. Todo aquel que es de la verdad, oye mi voz." John 18:37 Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
May la verdad (the truth) be heard and victorious.
Friday, March 29, 2013
La Familia
What would you do for love? Would you go to prison? Calvin Fairbank and Delia Webster were teachers and abolitionists who helped Lewis Hayden, Hayden's wife, Harriet, and the Hayden's son escape from slavery.
The Hayden's made it safely from Kentucky to Ohio then to Canada. Fairbank and Webster were arrested and charged with slave stealing. Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible says, "For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
Calvin Fairbank, who was also a minister, agreed to plead guilty if Delia Webster was allowed to go free. Webster was freed. Fairbank was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Black people look different from white people. The Haydens, Fairbank and Webster prove difference can be dynamic instead of a reason for hatred and abuse.
Rafael, my son who has autism, and I live in Virginia which is a state next to the state of Maryland. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, and Rafael, I and other African Americans enjoy our freedom, racial problems still exist in America along with conflict among all kinds of people. 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.
God made each person different. No two people not even twins and other multiples have the same finger prints, eye prints or scent. God made us different on purpose. God even made some people with disabilities. Exodus 4:11 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things?"
Yellow (huang) was a color reserved for the Chinese Emperor and members of the imperial family. The emperor had to grant permission for other people to wear it.
Partiality puts up barriers to treating people right. James, a brother of Jesus Christ and an apostle, writes in the book of James Complete Jewish Bible, "My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?"
Welcome and accept whoever wants to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to join la familia de Dios (the family of God) this Good Friday or any other day. La familia helps each other.
Lewis Hayden raised $650.00 which through a chain of other players helped free Calvin Fairbank from prison within four years.
The Hayden's made it safely from Kentucky to Ohio then to Canada. Fairbank and Webster were arrested and charged with slave stealing. Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible says, "For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself."
Calvin Fairbank, who was also a minister, agreed to plead guilty if Delia Webster was allowed to go free. Webster was freed. Fairbank was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Black people look different from white people. The Haydens, Fairbank and Webster prove difference can be dynamic instead of a reason for hatred and abuse.
Rafael, my son who has autism, and I live in Virginia which is a state next to the state of Maryland. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, and Rafael, I and other African Americans enjoy our freedom, racial problems still exist in America along with conflict among all kinds of people. 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.
God made each person different. No two people not even twins and other multiples have the same finger prints, eye prints or scent. God made us different on purpose. God even made some people with disabilities. Exodus 4:11 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things?"
Yellow (huang) was a color reserved for the Chinese Emperor and members of the imperial family. The emperor had to grant permission for other people to wear it.
Partiality puts up barriers to treating people right. James, a brother of Jesus Christ and an apostle, writes in the book of James Complete Jewish Bible, "My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?"
Welcome and accept whoever wants to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to join la familia de Dios (the family of God) this Good Friday or any other day. La familia helps each other.
Lewis Hayden raised $650.00 which through a chain of other players helped free Calvin Fairbank from prison within four years.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
End the War Between the Sexes
"Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side," says motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar. Love is better than war between the sexes.
Many African American couples purchased the freedom of one or both. Frederick Douglass was named Frederick Bailey as a slave. He fell in love with Anna Murray who was born free. Murray and paper played important roles in his life. Ts'ai Lun, an official of the Chinese Imperial court is credited with inventing paper. He combined bamboo fibers, the inner bark of a mulberry tree and water to create pulp. Lun then poured the pulp on a cloth and let the water drain through. When the remaining pulp was solid enough, he lifted it off the cloth and hung it up to dry. When dry it made a writing surface.
On September 3, 1838 using the borrowed identification papers of a black sailor and abolitionist named David Ruggles and money that Murray had saved, Frederick Bailey left slavery in Maryland for freedom in Massachusetts. Love shows itself.
1 Corinthians 13:6 Amplified Bible says about love, "It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail." Slavery is wrong; freedom is just and right. Like Murray worked nine years, saved money and gave it to her future husband Frederick Bailey to purchase his freedom, Absalom Jones and Mary King were slaves who married, and Absalom worked several years to pay for the freedom of Mary, their children and himself. Absalom Jones went on to found the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church on July 17, 1794, and he became the first black American to become an ordained priest. Read more in my article "Stern-Looking But Big-Hearted." Lucy Terry was a 16-year-old poet and slave who wrote "The Bar's Fight" describing a Native American attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1746 during the French and Indian War. Abijah Prince an ex-slave who gained his freedom after serving in the French and Indian War, married Lucy Terry and purchased her freedom. They moved to Vermont and had six children two of whom fought in the Revolutionary War.
Fred Korematsu who fought for Asian American civil rights said, "If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up." Frederick Bailey changed his name to Frederick Douglass to avoid slave hunters and spoke against many evils and for love. Douglass became a public speaker, wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and established the newspaper called North Star which is the same name of the first newspaper I wrote for in high school and eventually became editor-in-chief of it. The North Star's motto was "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Even if something or someone is in the way of love, pasos cortos, vista larga (short steps, long view.) Harriet Tubman was married to John Tubman. Harriet was born a slave. John was born free. John did not help Harriet gain her freedom. Step by step Harriet gained her freedom and went on to help hundreds of African Americans gain their freedom. Read my article "Only One is All Good."
Love is not without struggle, but we can work together for in the end, love always wins.
Many African American couples purchased the freedom of one or both. Frederick Douglass was named Frederick Bailey as a slave. He fell in love with Anna Murray who was born free. Murray and paper played important roles in his life. Ts'ai Lun, an official of the Chinese Imperial court is credited with inventing paper. He combined bamboo fibers, the inner bark of a mulberry tree and water to create pulp. Lun then poured the pulp on a cloth and let the water drain through. When the remaining pulp was solid enough, he lifted it off the cloth and hung it up to dry. When dry it made a writing surface.
On September 3, 1838 using the borrowed identification papers of a black sailor and abolitionist named David Ruggles and money that Murray had saved, Frederick Bailey left slavery in Maryland for freedom in Massachusetts. Love shows itself.
1 Corinthians 13:6 Amplified Bible says about love, "It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail." Slavery is wrong; freedom is just and right. Like Murray worked nine years, saved money and gave it to her future husband Frederick Bailey to purchase his freedom, Absalom Jones and Mary King were slaves who married, and Absalom worked several years to pay for the freedom of Mary, their children and himself. Absalom Jones went on to found the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church on July 17, 1794, and he became the first black American to become an ordained priest. Read more in my article "Stern-Looking But Big-Hearted." Lucy Terry was a 16-year-old poet and slave who wrote "The Bar's Fight" describing a Native American attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1746 during the French and Indian War. Abijah Prince an ex-slave who gained his freedom after serving in the French and Indian War, married Lucy Terry and purchased her freedom. They moved to Vermont and had six children two of whom fought in the Revolutionary War.
Fred Korematsu who fought for Asian American civil rights said, "If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up." Frederick Bailey changed his name to Frederick Douglass to avoid slave hunters and spoke against many evils and for love. Douglass became a public speaker, wrote Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and established the newspaper called North Star which is the same name of the first newspaper I wrote for in high school and eventually became editor-in-chief of it. The North Star's motto was "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Even if something or someone is in the way of love, pasos cortos, vista larga (short steps, long view.) Harriet Tubman was married to John Tubman. Harriet was born a slave. John was born free. John did not help Harriet gain her freedom. Step by step Harriet gained her freedom and went on to help hundreds of African Americans gain their freedom. Read my article "Only One is All Good."
Love is not without struggle, but we can work together for in the end, love always wins.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Interconnect
Raizy Glauber and Nathan Glauber were 21-years-old, Orthodox Jews of the Satmar Hasidic sect who had been paired by a matchmaker before marrying about a year ago reports The New York Times. The Glauber's were also killed in a car accident Monday, but doctors were able to perform an emergency Caesarean section to save the life of their son who was born at 24 weeks gestation, according to The New York Times's March 4, 2013, article "Emergency-Room Crisis: When Pregnant Woman Is Dying."
The Glauber baby boy is the age of babies now protected from some second-trimester and third trimester abortions in some American states. Read my article "Abortion Hurts."
Because of the age and place of residence of the unborn they are being discriminated against. The unborn have few legal rights.
Issues are interconnected. Christian minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." King also said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
The injustice of discrimination is widespread. During segregation African Americans and other people of color were compelled to sit in the back of buses and to go to colored only public places. The Voting Rights Act got rid of things like poll taxes, literacy tests and other administrative barriers erected to block African Americans and other people of color from voting. Are today's citizen tests, English tests, long waiting periods to become citizens like the past discriminatory poll taxes and literacy tests?
All Rafael and I had to do to become American citizens was be born. We thank God that we are not slaves, undocumented or living in countries where much of the population is living in circumstances comparable to segregation and even slavery.
Is anyone advocating for making American citizenship for immigrants almost as easy as it is for those born citizens?
A proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers." Matthew 7:12 New Living Translation Bible says, "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." It does not matter if people want to stay in a country permanently or temporarily, God encourages us to treat them like ourselves. Deuteronomio 10:17-18 Palabra de Dios para Todos dice, "porque el SEÑOR tu Dios es el Dios de todos los dioses y el Señor de todos los señores. Él es grande, poderoso y terrible. Él no tiene favoritismos ni acepta sobornos. Él se encarga de hacer justicia a las viudas y a los huérfanos. Él ama al inmigrante que habita contigo y le da comida y ropa." Deuteronomy 10:17-18 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing."
Of course, we would not want to offer citizenship to drug lords, terrorists and other real criminals, but many foreign people will add great value to our American society by becoming citizens. Ruth, who was from Moab, was also in the human heritage of King David and Jesus Christ. Ruth said to her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi, in the book of Ruth 1:16-17 English Standard Version, ". . .“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”"
Ruth was brave enough to escape the paganism of Moab. For other escapes, read my article "Audacious Escapes" and "Only One is All Good."
Ruth married the Jewish Boaz and lived the rest of her life in Israel. The women of Israel said to Naomi about Ruth in the book of Ruth 4:15 New Living Translation, " . . . your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons."
How much value and goodness are we missing through discriminatory practices like abortion and the process for foreigners to become citizens?
The Glauber baby boy is the age of babies now protected from some second-trimester and third trimester abortions in some American states. Read my article "Abortion Hurts."
Because of the age and place of residence of the unborn they are being discriminated against. The unborn have few legal rights.
Issues are interconnected. Christian minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." King also said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
The injustice of discrimination is widespread. During segregation African Americans and other people of color were compelled to sit in the back of buses and to go to colored only public places. The Voting Rights Act got rid of things like poll taxes, literacy tests and other administrative barriers erected to block African Americans and other people of color from voting. Are today's citizen tests, English tests, long waiting periods to become citizens like the past discriminatory poll taxes and literacy tests?
All Rafael and I had to do to become American citizens was be born. We thank God that we are not slaves, undocumented or living in countries where much of the population is living in circumstances comparable to segregation and even slavery.
Is anyone advocating for making American citizenship for immigrants almost as easy as it is for those born citizens?
A proverb from Zaire says, "A kind person is the one who is kind to strangers." Matthew 7:12 New Living Translation Bible says, "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." It does not matter if people want to stay in a country permanently or temporarily, God encourages us to treat them like ourselves. Deuteronomio 10:17-18 Palabra de Dios para Todos dice, "porque el SEÑOR tu Dios es el Dios de todos los dioses y el Señor de todos los señores. Él es grande, poderoso y terrible. Él no tiene favoritismos ni acepta sobornos. Él se encarga de hacer justicia a las viudas y a los huérfanos. Él ama al inmigrante que habita contigo y le da comida y ropa." Deuteronomy 10:17-18 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing."
Of course, we would not want to offer citizenship to drug lords, terrorists and other real criminals, but many foreign people will add great value to our American society by becoming citizens. Ruth, who was from Moab, was also in the human heritage of King David and Jesus Christ. Ruth said to her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi, in the book of Ruth 1:16-17 English Standard Version, ". . .“Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”"
Ruth was brave enough to escape the paganism of Moab. For other escapes, read my article "Audacious Escapes" and "Only One is All Good."
Ruth married the Jewish Boaz and lived the rest of her life in Israel. The women of Israel said to Naomi about Ruth in the book of Ruth 4:15 New Living Translation, " . . . your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons."
How much value and goodness are we missing through discriminatory practices like abortion and the process for foreigners to become citizens?
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Only One is All Good
"And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone," (Mark 10:18 English Standard Version Bible.)
Yet we often except near perfection in people we marry, in leaders and in others. Believers are saints, and saints sometimes sin. Jesus Christ taught us to ask Him for forgiveness daily. Luke 11:2-4 the Message Bible says, "So he said, “When you pray, say,
Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”"
Harriet Tubman was called Moses after the Biblical Moses because she led hundreds of African Americans out of slavery through trips on the Underground Railroad, not a train but a network of people who hid and helped slaves escape slavery and live in freedom. Large rewards were offered for Harriet Tubman's capture, but with God on her side she was never caught, and she never lost a passenger.
Harriet also married, John Tubman. John was a black man who was born free, but he treated Harriet as if she were his slave and said that if Harriet tried to escape slavery he would tell her slave master!
Harriet hid her plans to escape slavery from her husband. In 1849 traveling through the Underground Railroad, following the North Star, Harriet escaped from slavery on the Brodas plantation in Eastern Shore Maryland. Harriet said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free." She later said, "There was such glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
Harriet could have stayed in "heaven," but she decided to go back to slave-states repeatedly to rescue slaves including her children, her brothers (she had 11 siblings) and their families, her elderly parents (Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross) and many others.
Her husband, John Tubman was a hard-hearted man. On one trip when Harriet came back to the Brodas plantation, her husband refused to come to a non-slave state. Harriet didn't waste the trip, she rescued some slaves. John Tubman married another woman.
Some of us are married to people we should have never married, or in relationships that we should have never entered or in other difficult relationships. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Complete Jewish Bible says, "To the rest I say — I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him. For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother — otherwise your children would be “unclean,” but as it is, they are set aside for God. But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved — God has called you to a life of peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"
When her marriage failed, Harriet kept on living and doing good. Harriet served in the Civil War on the side of the Union as a scout, spy and nurse. She was the first woman in U.S. military history to lead an armed expedition. In the Combahee River Raid Harriet led a group of mostly black soldiers in an audacious escape that liberated more than 750 enslaved persons. Movie material? Proverbs-style women are warriors. Read my article "Warrior Women,"
Being a warrior does not mean that a woman lacks nurturing capacity. After the Civil War Harriet went to live on a small farm in Auburn, New York. She eventually turned her home into a home for poor and elderly African Americans.
Harriet was also active in the women's movement. She worked with women like Susan B. Anthony to fight for women's right to vote.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "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." Read my article "Divorced = Eliminated from the Race?"
Just because John Tubman had no sense to appreciate the woman he had, didn't mean others didn't recognize Harriet's value. Abolitionist John Brown called her, "General Tubman." Solider Nelson Davis and Harriet Tubman married in 1869.
What other warrior women are like Harriet Tubman?
Douglas Brinkley writes in The Washington Post March 1, 2013, article "What would Parks do? Honor Tubman," "What would have truly perturbed her was that Obama has yet to issue an executive order to create a national monument for Harriet Tubman. The paperwork is ready; it just needs the president's signature. . . . Call or write the White House and urge the president to pick up his pen on behalf of history."
Yet we often except near perfection in people we marry, in leaders and in others. Believers are saints, and saints sometimes sin. Jesus Christ taught us to ask Him for forgiveness daily. Luke 11:2-4 the Message Bible says, "So he said, “When you pray, say,
Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”"
Harriet Tubman was called Moses after the Biblical Moses because she led hundreds of African Americans out of slavery through trips on the Underground Railroad, not a train but a network of people who hid and helped slaves escape slavery and live in freedom. Large rewards were offered for Harriet Tubman's capture, but with God on her side she was never caught, and she never lost a passenger.
Harriet also married, John Tubman. John was a black man who was born free, but he treated Harriet as if she were his slave and said that if Harriet tried to escape slavery he would tell her slave master!
Harriet hid her plans to escape slavery from her husband. In 1849 traveling through the Underground Railroad, following the North Star, Harriet escaped from slavery on the Brodas plantation in Eastern Shore Maryland. Harriet said, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free." She later said, "There was such glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
Harriet could have stayed in "heaven," but she decided to go back to slave-states repeatedly to rescue slaves including her children, her brothers (she had 11 siblings) and their families, her elderly parents (Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross) and many others.
Her husband, John Tubman was a hard-hearted man. On one trip when Harriet came back to the Brodas plantation, her husband refused to come to a non-slave state. Harriet didn't waste the trip, she rescued some slaves. John Tubman married another woman.
Some of us are married to people we should have never married, or in relationships that we should have never entered or in other difficult relationships. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Complete Jewish Bible says, "To the rest I say — I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him. For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother — otherwise your children would be “unclean,” but as it is, they are set aside for God. But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved — God has called you to a life of peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"
When her marriage failed, Harriet kept on living and doing good. Harriet served in the Civil War on the side of the Union as a scout, spy and nurse. She was the first woman in U.S. military history to lead an armed expedition. In the Combahee River Raid Harriet led a group of mostly black soldiers in an audacious escape that liberated more than 750 enslaved persons. Movie material? Proverbs-style women are warriors. Read my article "Warrior Women,"
Being a warrior does not mean that a woman lacks nurturing capacity. After the Civil War Harriet went to live on a small farm in Auburn, New York. She eventually turned her home into a home for poor and elderly African Americans.
Harriet was also active in the women's movement. She worked with women like Susan B. Anthony to fight for women's right to vote.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "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." Read my article "Divorced = Eliminated from the Race?"
Just because John Tubman had no sense to appreciate the woman he had, didn't mean others didn't recognize Harriet's value. Abolitionist John Brown called her, "General Tubman." Solider Nelson Davis and Harriet Tubman married in 1869.
What other warrior women are like Harriet Tubman?
Douglas Brinkley writes in The Washington Post March 1, 2013, article "What would Parks do? Honor Tubman," "What would have truly perturbed her was that Obama has yet to issue an executive order to create a national monument for Harriet Tubman. The paperwork is ready; it just needs the president's signature. . . . Call or write the White House and urge the president to pick up his pen on behalf of history."
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Audacious Escapes
"You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him," says Deuteronomy 23:15-16 English Standard Version Bible. Many Native Americans may not have known the Bible, but they practiced this part of the Bible by sheltering African-American slaves who fled their slave masters searching for freedom in Native American communities.
Rafael and I love to travel to Florida. Before 1819 when Spain sold Florida to the United States of America, Florida was a popular place for runaway slaves to live among the Native Americans. African-American slaves and free people intermarried with Native Americans. The Seminoles consist of Native Americans, African Americans and people who are a mix of both Native Americans and African Americans.
John Horse was of mixed Native American and African-American heritage. Like others like him Horse played a role in Native-American leadership. John Horse and Wild Cat defeated an American army led by Colonel Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. Later John Horse led a group of black Seminoles into Mexico where they were allowed to live in return for guarding the border against rustlers and bandits.
No matter if people are African, European, Asian, Latino or some mixture, God created people with a desire to be free. Sometimes we consider certain practices acceptable for other people that we would never consider acceptable for ourselves. Former US President Abraham Lincoln said, "Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." How many people really wish that their parents would have aborted them instead of allowing them to live? Gospel singer Fred Hammond's mom tried to abort him, but Hammond survived. Read his story and more in my article "Thoughts About Abortion."
Proverbs 11:27 Amplified Bible says, "He who diligently seeks good seeks [God’s] favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him." President Lincoln said, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." Lincoln fought for his idea. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery. Lincoln helped push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which finally freed all the slaves nationwide in December 1865.
Rafael and I would probably be slaves today if it were not for President Lincoln.
Not only African Americans but many would probably not be enjoying the freedoms we have today if it were not for President Lincoln. Lincoln led the United States through the American Civil War preserving the Union.
Many people have low expectations of people with mental illness, but Lincoln accomplished great things even while he battled periods of depression. Do we have a Federal, American holiday recognizing the accomplishments of people with mental illness?
Printing transformed literature globally. Printing was invented in China. The written word is a wonderful way to inspire change.
Native Americans and President Lincoln helped African Americans escape slavery. Many Latino countries are experiencing social, political and economic turmoil leading some to immigrate to America. What can we do to help them?
Rafael and I love to travel to Florida. Before 1819 when Spain sold Florida to the United States of America, Florida was a popular place for runaway slaves to live among the Native Americans. African-American slaves and free people intermarried with Native Americans. The Seminoles consist of Native Americans, African Americans and people who are a mix of both Native Americans and African Americans.
John Horse was of mixed Native American and African-American heritage. Like others like him Horse played a role in Native-American leadership. John Horse and Wild Cat defeated an American army led by Colonel Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. Later John Horse led a group of black Seminoles into Mexico where they were allowed to live in return for guarding the border against rustlers and bandits.
No matter if people are African, European, Asian, Latino or some mixture, God created people with a desire to be free. Sometimes we consider certain practices acceptable for other people that we would never consider acceptable for ourselves. Former US President Abraham Lincoln said, "Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." How many people really wish that their parents would have aborted them instead of allowing them to live? Gospel singer Fred Hammond's mom tried to abort him, but Hammond survived. Read his story and more in my article "Thoughts About Abortion."
Proverbs 11:27 Amplified Bible says, "He who diligently seeks good seeks [God’s] favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him." President Lincoln said, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." Lincoln fought for his idea. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, encouraging border states to outlaw slavery. Lincoln helped push through Congress the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which finally freed all the slaves nationwide in December 1865.
Rafael and I would probably be slaves today if it were not for President Lincoln.
Not only African Americans but many would probably not be enjoying the freedoms we have today if it were not for President Lincoln. Lincoln led the United States through the American Civil War preserving the Union.
Many people have low expectations of people with mental illness, but Lincoln accomplished great things even while he battled periods of depression. Do we have a Federal, American holiday recognizing the accomplishments of people with mental illness?
Printing transformed literature globally. Printing was invented in China. The written word is a wonderful way to inspire change.
Native Americans and President Lincoln helped African Americans escape slavery. Many Latino countries are experiencing social, political and economic turmoil leading some to immigrate to America. What can we do to help them?
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