In 1944 Fannie Lou Townsend became Fannie Lou Hamer when she married Perry "Pap" Hamer. The couple were looking forward to having children. But no matter how many times they enjoyed sexual intercourse no children were created.
That's because unknown to Fannie and Pap a Mississippi doctor sterilized Fannie without her consent. Fannie was the youngest of Jim Townsend's and Lou Ella Townsend's 20 children. The Mississippi doctor thought that he could help reduce the black population by sterilizing women like Fannie.
Involuntary sterilization happens in America and globally. According to Financial Times, the Chinese Health Ministry reported that since 1971, 196 million sterilizations and 336 abortions have been performed in China. Many of these are involuntary.
Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
As a young person Fannie Lou worshiped at the Stranger's Home Baptist Church and became a creyente (believer) in God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost.
"If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up," says Fred Korematsu regarding the forced detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Fannie Lou Hamer became a civil rights activist fighting for the rights of black people to vote without barriers like literacy tests and poll taxes and to have representation in political parties. In 1964 Fannie Lou and several black and white members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to help African Americans gain greater representation in Mississippi politics. The regular Mississippi Democratic Party, known as the Regulars, did not admit black members. The MFDP changed its name to the Mississippi Loyalist Democratic Party. After a couple of tries, in 1968 all of the party's delegates were seated at the Democratic National Convention.
The free speech we enjoy in America does not exist in China. Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security. Bale told CNN, "What I really wanted to do was shake the man's hand and tell him what an inspiration he is."
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.
Those doing dark deeds do not want the light shined on them.
The Chinese government has authorized mass killing of babies in China. When Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Israel, more than 2,000 years ago Herod authorized mass killing of all baby boys in Bethlehem. Great good is in China for the government to be so aggressively killing people.
Romans 12:21 Complete Jewish Bible says, "Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good."
Instead of bitterness over her involuntary sterilization, in addition to her civil rights' work Fannie Lou Hamer and Pap Hamer adopted four children.
Instead of bitterness over being in prison for his Christian faith and Christian works Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini has chosen forgiveness and perseverance. He was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children, who live in the US state of Idaho. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The U.S. State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 570,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org.
Instead of bitterness over his jail time, house arrest and persecution of family and friends, Chen Guangcheng is continuing to fight against forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China and a lack of human rights and civil rights in China.
A Malagasy African proverb says, "Let not your love be like a torrent: heavy at first but swiftly abating."
Recommend this article on Google. Tweet with me @Michelelove30. Leave an on-line comment sharing the victory of love over evil.
Showing posts with label Africans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africans. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Love Is Like A Flower That Has To Be Cultivated
Discrimination in its multitude of forms is destructive. Sometimes those who are wrong about many things recognize some truths. Deceased Rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur says in part of his song "Letter to My Unborn Child" which he describes as a "love letter:"
"To my unborn child..
To my unborn child .. in case I
don't make it
Just remember daddy loves you
To my unborn child...
To my unborn child..
I'm writing you a letter
This is to my unborn child
Wanna let you know I love you
Love you, if you didn't know I feel
this way.
How I, think about you every day
I have so much to say..."
Fathers, mothers, babies and others are involved in a pregnancy. No matter how much fathers may love their unborn children, in America and other countries the law denies fathers legal rights in the abortion-decision-making.
Nevertheless, fathers are obviously involved in the creation of new human life. Vincent M. Rue, Ph.D., writes in his article, ""The Hollow Men": Male Grief & Trauma Following Abortion," "Men’s responses to abortion are varied, like men themselves. How abortion impacts men is complicated by the decision-making that precedes the abortion. Prior to a woman aborting her child, there are at least seven scenarios of male involvement: (1) he does not know she is pregnant and she aborts without his knowledge; (2) he opposes the abortion and says so openly; (3) he knows about the pregnancy but hides his true feelings or beliefs against abortion from the woman, out of his attempt to “love” her and affirm her rights over her body; (4) he is ambivalent about abortion and simply goes along with his partner’s decision to abort; (5) he supports and encourages her decision to abort; (6) he pressures her to abort, even threatening to leave her if she doesn’t; or (7) he abandons her physically and emotionally and refuses any responsibility for her or her choices."
Chen Guangcheng is a father of two children. He didn't abandon his children or other unborn babies and their families. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.
Most of us came to be through God's will and sexual intercourse.
Sexuality is beautiful and designed by God for both singles and married people. God values the rewards and responsibilities of human relationships so much that He teaches us to set aside partner sex for marriage among one husband, one wife and one God.
Pastors Annie and Kermy Otero say in the song "Nuestro Amor" on the album Tu Compania, "Nuestro amor es una flor hermosa cultivada por los dos... Su fortaleza es el Senor (Our love is a beautiful flower cultivated by both of us. Our strength is in God.)
Love has to be cultivated continuously. Sometimes spouses and people in other relationships fail to pluck up the weeds of aloofness, selfishness, etc. Sometimes we are aware of our weed-like behavior. Othertimes we are not.
Talk to God like David did in Psalm 139. David says in Psalm 139:23-24 Complete Jewish Bible, "Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts. See if there is in me any hurtful way, and lead me along the eternal way."
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," audio broadcast, "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person."
Being able to spend the rest of life with a spouse is a privilege that can be plucked away at any time whether we are a US citizen or a citizen of another country. Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.
"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."
Torture and reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US.
Chen Guangcheng stood up to China regarding their forced abortion and forced sterilization practices. Pastor Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight year prison sentence. Write a letter. Sign a petition to free Saeed Abedini from Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, at http://www.savesaeed.org.
God gives us life. Jiroemon Kimura celebrated his 116th birthday on April 19, 2013, in Japan making him the world's oldest living man according to the Guinness World Records. A Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, at 115 Guinness World Records says is the world's oldest living woman. Jeanne Louise Calment was 122 when she died in 1997 in France; she holds the record for the world's longest living person.
Long life filled with the love of God--what a wonderful desire that can be fulfilled. Psalm 37:4 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "Do what the Lord wants, and he will give you your heart’s desire."
"To my unborn child..
To my unborn child .. in case I
don't make it
Just remember daddy loves you
To my unborn child...
To my unborn child..
I'm writing you a letter
This is to my unborn child
Wanna let you know I love you
Love you, if you didn't know I feel
this way.
How I, think about you every day
I have so much to say..."
Fathers, mothers, babies and others are involved in a pregnancy. No matter how much fathers may love their unborn children, in America and other countries the law denies fathers legal rights in the abortion-decision-making.
Nevertheless, fathers are obviously involved in the creation of new human life. Vincent M. Rue, Ph.D., writes in his article, ""The Hollow Men": Male Grief & Trauma Following Abortion," "Men’s responses to abortion are varied, like men themselves. How abortion impacts men is complicated by the decision-making that precedes the abortion. Prior to a woman aborting her child, there are at least seven scenarios of male involvement: (1) he does not know she is pregnant and she aborts without his knowledge; (2) he opposes the abortion and says so openly; (3) he knows about the pregnancy but hides his true feelings or beliefs against abortion from the woman, out of his attempt to “love” her and affirm her rights over her body; (4) he is ambivalent about abortion and simply goes along with his partner’s decision to abort; (5) he supports and encourages her decision to abort; (6) he pressures her to abort, even threatening to leave her if she doesn’t; or (7) he abandons her physically and emotionally and refuses any responsibility for her or her choices."
Chen Guangcheng is a father of two children. He didn't abandon his children or other unborn babies and their families. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.
Most of us came to be through God's will and sexual intercourse.
Sexuality is beautiful and designed by God for both singles and married people. God values the rewards and responsibilities of human relationships so much that He teaches us to set aside partner sex for marriage among one husband, one wife and one God.
Pastors Annie and Kermy Otero say in the song "Nuestro Amor" on the album Tu Compania, "Nuestro amor es una flor hermosa cultivada por los dos... Su fortaleza es el Senor (Our love is a beautiful flower cultivated by both of us. Our strength is in God.)
Love has to be cultivated continuously. Sometimes spouses and people in other relationships fail to pluck up the weeds of aloofness, selfishness, etc. Sometimes we are aware of our weed-like behavior. Othertimes we are not.
Talk to God like David did in Psalm 139. David says in Psalm 139:23-24 Complete Jewish Bible, "Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts. See if there is in me any hurtful way, and lead me along the eternal way."
Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," audio broadcast, "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person."
Being able to spend the rest of life with a spouse is a privilege that can be plucked away at any time whether we are a US citizen or a citizen of another country. Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape. Kegui is married to Liu Fang. The couple have a young son, Chen Fubin.
"He (Chen Kegui) must be heavily injured, I'm worried about his physical state," Liu Fang said to Reuters reporter Sui-Lee Wee for her May 24, 2012, article "Brother of blind China activist flees village." Liu Fang also said about her husband and Guangcheng's nephew, "Inside, he might be subject to beatings."
Torture and reprisals by Chinese authorities are happening to family and friends of Guangcheng since his escape from China to the US.
Chen Guangcheng stood up to China regarding their forced abortion and forced sterilization practices. Pastor Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight year prison sentence. Write a letter. Sign a petition to free Saeed Abedini from Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, at http://www.savesaeed.org.
God gives us life. Jiroemon Kimura celebrated his 116th birthday on April 19, 2013, in Japan making him the world's oldest living man according to the Guinness World Records. A Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, at 115 Guinness World Records says is the world's oldest living woman. Jeanne Louise Calment was 122 when she died in 1997 in France; she holds the record for the world's longest living person.
Long life filled with the love of God--what a wonderful desire that can be fulfilled. Psalm 37:4 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "Do what the Lord wants, and he will give you your heart’s desire."
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Nameless But Not Voiceless
Kim Nam Jo born in Korea writes in the poem "My Baby Has No Name Yet" translated by Ko Won:
"My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or a puppy
my baby is not named yet.
What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.
Starry field of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?
My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours."
Many Chinese baby boys and baby girls didn't get a name before they were forcibly aborted. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. Many babies in countries across the globe didn't get a name before they were aborted. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.
Chen Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, didn't start out speaking up for the unborn. A self-taught lawyer, Guangcheng, helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures. Guangcheng became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security.
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.
Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape.
Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
When asked about having regrets on speaking out about forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, Guangcheng told Anderson Cooper of CNN through an interpreter, "I have no regrets."
During an April 8, 2013, George W. Bush Institute interview Guangcheng recommended that Americans listen to various Chinese media to learn the ways that freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to protest are missing in China and human rights violations are being committed.
"As long as there is one ... oppressed human being in this world the struggle la lucha continua," says Dr. Georgia McMurray, educator, writer, activist who had the progressively degenerative muscle disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Guangcheng recommended in the George W. Bush Institute interview that once people are informed about the situation in China they can show support for life, freedom and human rights by wearing dark sunglasses like he wears, blogging or something else according to ability.
"Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman," says Marian Anderson, singer and civil rights advocate.
Educator and Writer Elie Wiesel says, "Remember: silence helps the killer, never his victims."
No one healthy wants to be harmed or killed. Jesus Christ teaches in Matthew 7:12 Complete Jewish Bible, "“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets."
A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues."
God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1) is able to give us to strength to speak and to act in love. When we become creyentes (believers) we give up our life and God's life lives through us. Galatians 2:20 English Standard Version Bible says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
"My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or a puppy
my baby is not named yet.
What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.
Starry field of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?
My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours."
Many Chinese baby boys and baby girls didn't get a name before they were forcibly aborted. Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. Many babies in countries across the globe didn't get a name before they were aborted. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million babies have been killed.
Chen Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, didn't start out speaking up for the unborn. A self-taught lawyer, Guangcheng, helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures. Guangcheng became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security.
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.
Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape.
Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
When asked about having regrets on speaking out about forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, Guangcheng told Anderson Cooper of CNN through an interpreter, "I have no regrets."
During an April 8, 2013, George W. Bush Institute interview Guangcheng recommended that Americans listen to various Chinese media to learn the ways that freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to protest are missing in China and human rights violations are being committed.
"As long as there is one ... oppressed human being in this world the struggle la lucha continua," says Dr. Georgia McMurray, educator, writer, activist who had the progressively degenerative muscle disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Guangcheng recommended in the George W. Bush Institute interview that once people are informed about the situation in China they can show support for life, freedom and human rights by wearing dark sunglasses like he wears, blogging or something else according to ability.
"Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman," says Marian Anderson, singer and civil rights advocate.
Educator and Writer Elie Wiesel says, "Remember: silence helps the killer, never his victims."
No one healthy wants to be harmed or killed. Jesus Christ teaches in Matthew 7:12 Complete Jewish Bible, "“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets."
A Twi African proverb says, "Love is the greatest of all virtues."
God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1) is able to give us to strength to speak and to act in love. When we become creyentes (believers) we give up our life and God's life lives through us. Galatians 2:20 English Standard Version Bible says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Friday, April 19, 2013
Awaking a Sleeping Giant
Frederick Douglass started out as a slave named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. When he was hired out by his slave master to work in a Baltimore, Maryland, shipyard, he met a free-born, African-American woman named Anna Murray. Bailey and Murray fell in love.
Galatians 5:13-14 Complete Jewish Bible says, "For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”"
Murray used her freedom and finances to help Bailey get his freedom. Using money that Murray gave Bailey and another friend's borrowed identification papers, Bailey escaped from slavery in Maryland to New York, which was considered the "grand station" of the Underground Railroad. In New York Bailey met from African-American Abolitionist and Author David Ruggles.
Later Murray left Maryland too. She met Bailey in New York.
Reverend James W.C. Pennington, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York, was born a slave in Maryland who later escaped to New York. Pennington earned a doctorate of divinity from Heidelberg University in Germany and had the honor of marrying Frederick Bailey and Anna Murray.
Together the married couple left for Massachusetts where Bailey changed his name to Douglass to escape slave hunters. In Massachusetts Douglass met William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist and newspaper publisher of The Liberator, and began his own career as an abolitionist. Douglass became a speaker, writer and activist. He wrote books and published his own newspaper called North Star, which is also the name of a newspaper I wrote for and edited in high school and the name of the star runaway slaves used while traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom.
Douglass' North Star's motto is "Right is of no sex--Truth is of no color--God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
Douglass spent his youth in slavery and forced silence about slavery's evils. As an adult he spoke. A Dutch proverb says, "Sooner or later, the truth comes to light."
Like Douglass' slave authorities tried to keep him submissive and silent, Chinese authorities tried to keep Chen Guangcheng submissive and silent. Guangcheng became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy. Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, Internet access blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who wears dark sunglasses because he is blind, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012 and to enter the US embassy in Beijing. A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and two children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
Since China's one-child policy was implemented in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion; that's more Chinese baby boys and baby girls have lost their lives to abortion than the combined total population of the United States of America and Australia. In America since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion 55 million American babies have been killed.
Guangcheng's house arrest in Shandong, China, meant that he could not leave his house and people couldn't come to him. During this time Actor Christian Bale tried to visit the activist to publicize his plight, but was prohibited by plain clothes Chinese security.
Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times with others attempted to visit Guangcheng when he was under house arrest. Jacobs was met by a man who swatted at his car with a broom and called for back up who detained Jacobs. The security back up took the reporters' camera and deleted their images. When Jacobs was driving out of town, he was followed by a car with the license plate covered over by paper.
Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, has been in jail after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into Kegui's home after Guangcheng's escape.
Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
When asked about having regrets on speaking out about forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China, Guangcheng told Anderson Cooper of CNN through a translator, "I have no regrets."
During an April 8, 2013, George W. Bush Institute interview Guangcheng recommended that Americans listen to various Chinese media to learn the ways that freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to protest are missing in China and human rights violations are being committed.
A Persian proverb says, "Opportunity should be grabbed."
Chen recommended that once people are informed about the situation in China they can show support for life, freedom and human rights by wearing dark sunglasses like he wears, blogging or something else according to ability.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese forces that bombed Pearl Harbor bringing World War II to America, says about the attack, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve" (Japan Enchantment of the World.)
What are some ways to stand up for life, love and liberty?
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!"
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Ten and More Arrows for Life and Joy
"I don't want to help someone who is clearly in need because I am afraid of what it will cost me, and/or I don't approve of their lifestyle;" how many times has this thinking shown up?
I'm so glad God doesn't look at us this way. We are not perfect. Only God is perfect. We do a lot of things that God doesn't approve of, and we all need a lot of help. God helps creyentes (believers) continuously while also making us better. God also doesn't break off His eternal relationship with us because of our behavior. God loves us each and every day forever. Romans 5:8-10 Complete Jewish Bible says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!"
We have known for a long time that families don't spend enough quantity and quality time together, yet resistance exists to making substantial improvement. "Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman," says Marian Anderson, singer and civil rights advocate. Creyentes are people of faith.
One area of substantial improvement in family life is for countries globally to adopt one-year or more of paid employment leave.
Let's leave behind the one-size-fits-all thinking. Why mandate that one year or more of paid leave has to be taken all at once? Some may want to split it in various ways. One example is a dad works part of the work day, then uses leave for part of the work day while a mom does likewise in a way that their children are never in day care. I had a former supervisor who told me that quality day care is just too expensive especially when first beginning a career. She and her husband solved the problem by he worked days, and she worked nights before their children went to school. She said while this worked economically, physically and relationally it was exhausting. One year or more of paid leave would have helped this creative couple.
Does anyone have employment benefits that include one year or more of paid leave?
One year or more of paid leave is not just for married people and/or parents. While one of my single, Christian friends did not have as much as one year of paid leave, she would accrue a large leave balance so that she could take mission trips to Africa and Latin America. During these trips she would participate in distributing food, clothing, shoes, medical supplies and the Word of God. Singles with and without children can use one year or more of paid leave.
Earning money is essential to survival and progress (cash is efectivo,) and so is voluntarism in America and other countries globally. Former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
One year or more of paid leave should be granted without any necessity of giving the reason for its use.
Sometimes we need long-term paid time to grieve the loss of a family member. 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 one person helping with the grieving process and working 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.
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.
Last Tuesday 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.
A Japanese proverb says, "One arrow can easily break; ten arrows do not easily break."
Many people are needed to speak up and to push for the implementation of one-year or more of paid employment leave and an end to all types of abortion and involuntary sterilization.
I'm so glad God doesn't look at us this way. We are not perfect. Only God is perfect. We do a lot of things that God doesn't approve of, and we all need a lot of help. God helps creyentes (believers) continuously while also making us better. God also doesn't break off His eternal relationship with us because of our behavior. God loves us each and every day forever. Romans 5:8-10 Complete Jewish Bible says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!"
We have known for a long time that families don't spend enough quantity and quality time together, yet resistance exists to making substantial improvement. "Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman," says Marian Anderson, singer and civil rights advocate. Creyentes are people of faith.
One area of substantial improvement in family life is for countries globally to adopt one-year or more of paid employment leave.
Let's leave behind the one-size-fits-all thinking. Why mandate that one year or more of paid leave has to be taken all at once? Some may want to split it in various ways. One example is a dad works part of the work day, then uses leave for part of the work day while a mom does likewise in a way that their children are never in day care. I had a former supervisor who told me that quality day care is just too expensive especially when first beginning a career. She and her husband solved the problem by he worked days, and she worked nights before their children went to school. She said while this worked economically, physically and relationally it was exhausting. One year or more of paid leave would have helped this creative couple.
Does anyone have employment benefits that include one year or more of paid leave?
One year or more of paid leave is not just for married people and/or parents. While one of my single, Christian friends did not have as much as one year of paid leave, she would accrue a large leave balance so that she could take mission trips to Africa and Latin America. During these trips she would participate in distributing food, clothing, shoes, medical supplies and the Word of God. Singles with and without children can use one year or more of paid leave.
Earning money is essential to survival and progress (cash is efectivo,) and so is voluntarism in America and other countries globally. Former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
One year or more of paid leave should be granted without any necessity of giving the reason for its use.
Sometimes we need long-term paid time to grieve the loss of a family member. 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 one person helping with the grieving process and working 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.
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.
Last Tuesday 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.
A Japanese proverb says, "One arrow can easily break; ten arrows do not easily break."
Many people are needed to speak up and to push for the implementation of one-year or more of paid employment leave and an end to all types of abortion and involuntary sterilization.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Hugs and Kisses
Many people meet their spouse through their employment. In April 1939 Charles Drew was on his way to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to give a speech on his medical research. Drew stopped in Atlanta, Georgia, and met a teacher named Lenore Robbins at Spelman College. They fell in love, and got married by September.
Drew was Robbins' hardworking, handsome honey.
He was also the oldest child of Richard Thomas Drew and Nora Rosella Burrell Drew. Richard Drew was a carpet layer. Nora Drew was a teacher who became a domestic engineer. They had five children.
The Drew family was poor. To help his family Charles Drew got his first job at age 12 delivering newspapers. His entrepreneurial spirit showed up. Soon he had six other boys working for him delivering newspapers.
Later Charles Drew found out that his primary interest lay in medicine. So he went to medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
A Japanese proverb says, "One becomes skilled at the very thing one likes."
At McGill Drew took a class taught by John Beattie, a British doctor who was studying blood transfusion. Before the 1930s people often died from the loss of blood after accidents or surgery. Researchers had been studying how to replace lost blood with blood from other people, but they found that the human body would reject blood that was not similar to its own.
Dr. Karl Landsteiner discovered that all people have one of four blood types, which he called A, B, AB and O. A person who had lost blood would not reject the blood of a donor whose blood matched or was compatible. Landsteiner won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1930.
Yet still often blood deteriorated before a donor with matching or compatible blood could be found. That's the problem Beattie and Drew wanted to fix.
They couldn't solve it. Their professions took them on different paths. In 1938 Drew began a surgery residency at Columbia University's teaching hospital. Drew conducted research and discovered that the plasma part of blood could be dried and stored for long periods of time without deteriorating. In 1939 Drew set up a blood bank at Columbia's teaching hospital using plasma as the basis of emergency blood supplies.
Drew's blood work not only saved lives by making blood quickly available, it also connected him to the love of his life, Lenore Robbins. It was his blood work that he was scheduled to talk about at Tuskegee Institute and met Robbins on the way to his talk.
Drew was a man in demand at home and professionally. Robbins and Drew married and had three girls and one boy. In 1940 Drew became the first African American in the United States to be awarded a doctor of science degree. His thesis was on "Banked Blood."
Drew's former professor, Dr. Beattie, contacted Drew to help out England. World War II had broken out in Europe. Beattie had become Director of Research Laboratories at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England. Beattie was in charge of blood transfusions for the Royal Air Force, and he was having trouble keeping up with the need for blood. Dr. Beattie asked Dr. Drew to ship 10,000 pints of plasma to him within one month. Dr. Drew did it, and soon after Dr. Drew became the Medical Supervisor of the Blood for Britain program. Dr. Drew standardized procedures for collecting, processing, storing and shipping plasma.
The Red Cross recognized Dr. Drew's merit and appointed Dr. Drew director of a nationwide project to collect blood for the U.S. military. Eventually the armed forces told the Red Cross that it didn't want any blood from black people to be mixed with blood from white people. So procedures were set up to make sure that blood from different races did not mix. Dr. Drew resigned in response to the military's segregation blood policies.
An African proverb says, "A beautiful person will not be perfect."
Dr. Drew was in constant demand at conferences and other meetings. He was driving on his way to give a speech at Tuskegee Institute when he fell asleep and had an accident. Dr. Drew died.
Perhaps if Dr. Drew had gotten a sabbatical from work he would not have died as a result of a sleeping-at-the-wheel car accident leaving a widow and four orphans.
When Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Mosaic law and the prophets, He didn't come to implement a rigid system that put people in bondage and denied them the best of living. The Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus Christ challenging His Jewish people to practice the Sabbath in a way that provides maximum help for people. Mark 2:27 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "Jesus finished by saying, “People were not made for the good of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for the good of people."
Leviticus 25:3-7 New Living Translation says, "For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces."
How can employers pay for one-year or more of paid employee leave?
** All leave balances accrued should be portable from one place of employment to the next.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave benefits instead of a 401K match.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave instead of a monetary increase for merit performance.
** Some may desire a customized benefit package.
What are some other ways to pay for one-year or more of paid leave?
Married people usually have sex in private. A good or a bad sex life shows up in the community through the way a couple responds to their sexual relationship and is either energized or drained by it. Energized people give more love. Drained people cannot give what they don't have.
Perhaps Charles and Lenore enjoyed hugging each other with deep vaginal penetration. Did Dr. Drew give his girls and boy daddy boo-boo kisses and hugs to make it all better?
People who have four or more children are not dumb and a drain on society. Dr. Drew was one of five siblings and had four children of his own. In China Dr. Drew, his wife, Lenore, and Dr. Drew's parents would be subjected to forced abortions and forced sterilizations as part of China's one-child policy.
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.
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.
On Tuesday 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.
The Brazos River which flows through the middle of Texas was named Los Brazos de Dios which means In the Arms of God. May God hug friends and enemies and squeeze out all types of abortion and involuntary sterilization and squeeze in one-year or more of paid leave in America, China and other nations.
Drew was Robbins' hardworking, handsome honey.
He was also the oldest child of Richard Thomas Drew and Nora Rosella Burrell Drew. Richard Drew was a carpet layer. Nora Drew was a teacher who became a domestic engineer. They had five children.
The Drew family was poor. To help his family Charles Drew got his first job at age 12 delivering newspapers. His entrepreneurial spirit showed up. Soon he had six other boys working for him delivering newspapers.
Later Charles Drew found out that his primary interest lay in medicine. So he went to medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
A Japanese proverb says, "One becomes skilled at the very thing one likes."
At McGill Drew took a class taught by John Beattie, a British doctor who was studying blood transfusion. Before the 1930s people often died from the loss of blood after accidents or surgery. Researchers had been studying how to replace lost blood with blood from other people, but they found that the human body would reject blood that was not similar to its own.
Dr. Karl Landsteiner discovered that all people have one of four blood types, which he called A, B, AB and O. A person who had lost blood would not reject the blood of a donor whose blood matched or was compatible. Landsteiner won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1930.
Yet still often blood deteriorated before a donor with matching or compatible blood could be found. That's the problem Beattie and Drew wanted to fix.
They couldn't solve it. Their professions took them on different paths. In 1938 Drew began a surgery residency at Columbia University's teaching hospital. Drew conducted research and discovered that the plasma part of blood could be dried and stored for long periods of time without deteriorating. In 1939 Drew set up a blood bank at Columbia's teaching hospital using plasma as the basis of emergency blood supplies.
Drew's blood work not only saved lives by making blood quickly available, it also connected him to the love of his life, Lenore Robbins. It was his blood work that he was scheduled to talk about at Tuskegee Institute and met Robbins on the way to his talk.
Drew was a man in demand at home and professionally. Robbins and Drew married and had three girls and one boy. In 1940 Drew became the first African American in the United States to be awarded a doctor of science degree. His thesis was on "Banked Blood."
Drew's former professor, Dr. Beattie, contacted Drew to help out England. World War II had broken out in Europe. Beattie had become Director of Research Laboratories at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England. Beattie was in charge of blood transfusions for the Royal Air Force, and he was having trouble keeping up with the need for blood. Dr. Beattie asked Dr. Drew to ship 10,000 pints of plasma to him within one month. Dr. Drew did it, and soon after Dr. Drew became the Medical Supervisor of the Blood for Britain program. Dr. Drew standardized procedures for collecting, processing, storing and shipping plasma.
The Red Cross recognized Dr. Drew's merit and appointed Dr. Drew director of a nationwide project to collect blood for the U.S. military. Eventually the armed forces told the Red Cross that it didn't want any blood from black people to be mixed with blood from white people. So procedures were set up to make sure that blood from different races did not mix. Dr. Drew resigned in response to the military's segregation blood policies.
An African proverb says, "A beautiful person will not be perfect."
Dr. Drew was in constant demand at conferences and other meetings. He was driving on his way to give a speech at Tuskegee Institute when he fell asleep and had an accident. Dr. Drew died.
Perhaps if Dr. Drew had gotten a sabbatical from work he would not have died as a result of a sleeping-at-the-wheel car accident leaving a widow and four orphans.
When Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Mosaic law and the prophets, He didn't come to implement a rigid system that put people in bondage and denied them the best of living. The Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus Christ challenging His Jewish people to practice the Sabbath in a way that provides maximum help for people. Mark 2:27 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "Jesus finished by saying, “People were not made for the good of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for the good of people."
Leviticus 25:3-7 New Living Translation says, "For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces."
How can employers pay for one-year or more of paid employee leave?
** All leave balances accrued should be portable from one place of employment to the next.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave benefits instead of a 401K match.
** Some may prefer increased paid-leave instead of a monetary increase for merit performance.
** Some may desire a customized benefit package.
What are some other ways to pay for one-year or more of paid leave?
Married people usually have sex in private. A good or a bad sex life shows up in the community through the way a couple responds to their sexual relationship and is either energized or drained by it. Energized people give more love. Drained people cannot give what they don't have.
Perhaps Charles and Lenore enjoyed hugging each other with deep vaginal penetration. Did Dr. Drew give his girls and boy daddy boo-boo kisses and hugs to make it all better?
People who have four or more children are not dumb and a drain on society. Dr. Drew was one of five siblings and had four children of his own. In China Dr. Drew, his wife, Lenore, and Dr. Drew's parents would be subjected to forced abortions and forced sterilizations as part of China's one-child policy.
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.
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.
On Tuesday 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.
The Brazos River which flows through the middle of Texas was named Los Brazos de Dios which means In the Arms of God. May God hug friends and enemies and squeeze out all types of abortion and involuntary sterilization and squeeze in one-year or more of paid leave in America, China and other nations.
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.
Friday, April 12, 2013
An Inescapable Network of Mutuality
"We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured.
John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution," says Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution speech.
In America we are being diminished by the deaths through abortion of a baby boy or a baby girl every 30 seconds. Since 1973 when abortion was legalized in America, more than 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.
Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who in April 2012 escaped from house arrest in China, is now in the United States studying, writing a book and engaging in human rights activism. Guangcheng played a key role in exposing forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China. 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.
"If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up," says Japanese Fred Korematsu who resisted the forced detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The fight for Japanese-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 Japanese Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000.
Should African Americans receive reparations because of African American slavery in the US? What about the unborn once Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion in America is overturned and China's one-child policy is stopped?
Martin Luther King, Jr., taught personal, social and economic freedom and justice. In his Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution speech he says, "In 1863 the Negro was told that he was free as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation being signed by Abraham Lincoln. But he was not given any land to make that freedom meaningful....
Every court of jurisprudence would rise up against this, and yet this is the very thing that our nation did to the black man. It simply said, "You're free," and it left him there penniless, illiterate, not knowing what to do. And the irony of it all is that at the same time the nation failed to do anything for the black man, though...Congress was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest. Which meant that it was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor."
Everyone needs the right to live, survive and thrive. Proverbios 31:8 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960 dice, "Abre tu boca por el mudo en el juicio de todos los desvalidos." The Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die."
John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution," says Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution speech.
In America we are being diminished by the deaths through abortion of a baby boy or a baby girl every 30 seconds. Since 1973 when abortion was legalized in America, more than 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.
Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who in April 2012 escaped from house arrest in China, is now in the United States studying, writing a book and engaging in human rights activism. Guangcheng played a key role in exposing forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China. 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.
"If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up," says Japanese Fred Korematsu who resisted the forced detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The fight for Japanese-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 Japanese Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000.
Should African Americans receive reparations because of African American slavery in the US? What about the unborn once Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion in America is overturned and China's one-child policy is stopped?
Martin Luther King, Jr., taught personal, social and economic freedom and justice. In his Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution speech he says, "In 1863 the Negro was told that he was free as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation being signed by Abraham Lincoln. But he was not given any land to make that freedom meaningful....
Every court of jurisprudence would rise up against this, and yet this is the very thing that our nation did to the black man. It simply said, "You're free," and it left him there penniless, illiterate, not knowing what to do. And the irony of it all is that at the same time the nation failed to do anything for the black man, though...Congress was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest. Which meant that it was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor."
Everyone needs the right to live, survive and thrive. Proverbios 31:8 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960 dice, "Abre tu boca por el mudo en el juicio de todos los desvalidos." The Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die."
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Good Love
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," wrote Christian Minister and Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in a letter written while he was in a Birmingham, Alabama,city jail because of protesting racial segregation.
The war against love is in America, in China and in multiple nations globally. Today segregation is illegal in America, but racial problems still exist and other forms of discrimination abound. One area of discrimination is abortion. The unborn in America in China and elsewhere are missing a right to life. Since 1973 when abortion was legalized in America, more than 55 million babies have been killed. Since China's one-child policy was implement in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion.
Chen Guangcheng played a key role in exposing forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China. Guangcheng is a blind lawyer for the disabled and against forced abortions and forced sterilizations for anyone. He escaped from house arrest in China in April of 2012 and is now living in New York of the United States of America. 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.
In America more than one million babies are killed by abortion annually. Women are killed too. Tonya Reaves, a 24-year-old African-American woman, died July 20, 2012, on the operating table of a Chicago, Illinois, Planned Parenthood as a result of an abortion-induced hemorrhage reported a local CBS television station. Christin Gilbert was a 19-year-old with Down Syndrome who was killed by a botched abortion along with her baby. Both mom, Rosa Rodriquez, and baby, Ana Rosa Rodriquez, survived abortion, but baby Ana had her arm sliced off.
A Dagari African proverb says, "Living together is possible only after many a confrontation."
A diversity of people are needed to confront evil wherever it exists. I had a former homosexual co-worker tell me that he was against abortion but for gay sex. While he is wrong about gay sex (a form of adultery), he is right about abortion. Leviticus 18:22 New Living Translation Bible says, "“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin." Exodus 20:14 English Standard Bible says, "“You shall not commit adultery." Exodus 20:13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "“Do not murder."
God designed sex between a husband and a wife to be beautiful. Spooning, vaginal rear-entry, man on top, woman on top and other forms of sexual intercourse and other love play are marvelous. Sometimes out of the marvelous new life is created to be cherished.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for love. Chen Guangcheng is speaking for love. Will you?
A Japanese proverb advises, "Do quickly what is good."
The war against love is in America, in China and in multiple nations globally. Today segregation is illegal in America, but racial problems still exist and other forms of discrimination abound. One area of discrimination is abortion. The unborn in America in China and elsewhere are missing a right to life. Since 1973 when abortion was legalized in America, more than 55 million babies have been killed. Since China's one-child policy was implement in the 1970s more than 336 million babies have been killed by abortion.
Chen Guangcheng played a key role in exposing forced abortions and forced sterilizations in China. Guangcheng is a blind lawyer for the disabled and against forced abortions and forced sterilizations for anyone. He escaped from house arrest in China in April of 2012 and is now living in New York of the United States of America. 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.
In America more than one million babies are killed by abortion annually. Women are killed too. Tonya Reaves, a 24-year-old African-American woman, died July 20, 2012, on the operating table of a Chicago, Illinois, Planned Parenthood as a result of an abortion-induced hemorrhage reported a local CBS television station. Christin Gilbert was a 19-year-old with Down Syndrome who was killed by a botched abortion along with her baby. Both mom, Rosa Rodriquez, and baby, Ana Rosa Rodriquez, survived abortion, but baby Ana had her arm sliced off.
A Dagari African proverb says, "Living together is possible only after many a confrontation."
A diversity of people are needed to confront evil wherever it exists. I had a former homosexual co-worker tell me that he was against abortion but for gay sex. While he is wrong about gay sex (a form of adultery), he is right about abortion. Leviticus 18:22 New Living Translation Bible says, "“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin." Exodus 20:14 English Standard Bible says, "“You shall not commit adultery." Exodus 20:13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "“Do not murder."
God designed sex between a husband and a wife to be beautiful. Spooning, vaginal rear-entry, man on top, woman on top and other forms of sexual intercourse and other love play are marvelous. Sometimes out of the marvelous new life is created to be cherished.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for love. Chen Guangcheng is speaking for love. Will you?
A Japanese proverb advises, "Do quickly what is good."
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Love Letters, Relationships and Political Activism
"What started as an idea between two young people who fell in love and dreamed about the future has burst into the effervescence of reality. As time has gone by, it has been amazing to watch you bud, blossom and bring forth fruit. The fruit of that love, that wisdom and that tenacity have been the nectar that has nurtured me as a man and made our children who they are. I take this occasion to thank you, to water you with my love and adoration, to fertilize you with the season of our experiences, hardships, tests and trials, which have brought forth the blossom of love that we so cherish. My life is better because of you. My heart is stronger because of you, and it beats at the memories, at the moments, at the affections that we have shared. My partner, my lover, my friend, my wife. Thank you," writes Bishop T.D. Jakes in a love letter to his wife, Serita Jakes, published in the February 2013 Ebony magazine article "House of Love."
What wife would complain about a husband who regularly watered his wife with words like those written above by T.D. to Serita? People seek romance. Romance novels are half of all mass market paperbacks sold in the United States.
Does Chen Guangcheng speak love letters to his wife? Guangcheng is a blind lawyer for the disabled and against forced abortions and forced sterilizations for anyone. He escaped from house arrest in China in April of 2012 and is now living in New York of the United States of America. Guangcheng's joy of celebrating marital love must be tinged by the sadness of knowing family in China are being persecuted for Guangcheng's activism. Yesterday Guangcheng told the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China.
True love is limitless and loaded with goodness. Wisdom is good. Wisdom is a name for the Great Lover Jesus Christ.
When Guangcheng came to the United States of America, he could have stayed silent, happy to be with his wife and two children free from prison and torture. But he didn't choose this path.
Lovers are outstanding time managers. "Mirad, pues, con diligencia como andeis, no como necios sino como sabios, aprovechando bien el tiempo, porque los dias son malos. Por tanto, no seais insensatos, sino entendidos de cual sea la voluntad del Senor," dice Efesios 5:15-17 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. The Bilingual Bible New King James Version Ephesians 5:15-17 says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
Creyentes (believers) have wisdom. Are you using it to speak words of love in all relationships? Could a spouse, family or someone else write or speak about you like T.D. Jakes, "My life is better because of you"?
What wife would complain about a husband who regularly watered his wife with words like those written above by T.D. to Serita? People seek romance. Romance novels are half of all mass market paperbacks sold in the United States.
Does Chen Guangcheng speak love letters to his wife? Guangcheng is a blind lawyer for the disabled and against forced abortions and forced sterilizations for anyone. He escaped from house arrest in China in April of 2012 and is now living in New York of the United States of America. Guangcheng's joy of celebrating marital love must be tinged by the sadness of knowing family in China are being persecuted for Guangcheng's activism. Yesterday Guangcheng told the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China.
True love is limitless and loaded with goodness. Wisdom is good. Wisdom is a name for the Great Lover Jesus Christ.
When Guangcheng came to the United States of America, he could have stayed silent, happy to be with his wife and two children free from prison and torture. But he didn't choose this path.
Lovers are outstanding time managers. "Mirad, pues, con diligencia como andeis, no como necios sino como sabios, aprovechando bien el tiempo, porque los dias son malos. Por tanto, no seais insensatos, sino entendidos de cual sea la voluntad del Senor," dice Efesios 5:15-17 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. The Bilingual Bible New King James Version Ephesians 5:15-17 says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
Creyentes (believers) have wisdom. Are you using it to speak words of love in all relationships? Could a spouse, family or someone else write or speak about you like T.D. Jakes, "My life is better because of you"?
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.
Monday, April 8, 2013
A Long Time Coming
John 4:48-53 English Standard Version Bible says, "So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household."
God is still doing spectacular miracles like the one in John 4:48-53 that encourage belief in Him. Gospel Singer DeWayne Woods got HIV. God got rid of it.
If God doesn't speedily answer your prayers for healing from a disease, a dying relationship or something else, will you endure (keep on trusting Him and living led by God the Holy Ghost)?
One of the definitions of "immortal" in Webster's New World Dictionary is "enduring." Blue (lan) is a color associated with immortality in China.
All creyentes (believers) are going to heaven (home). Some creyentes are not associated with enduring adversity along the journey (home).
A Tunisian expression for a weak person is, "Hit him with a bean, he will break."
No matter how strong we think we are, we all have areas of weaknesses and trust issues that show their brokenness.
Instead of being mad, disappointed, resentful or something else negative when you don't get a John 4:48-53 response to prayers, be thankful. God knows best what we need. Sometimes is takes a while to turn a mess into a miracle.
Have you experienced a 20-years-or-more healing?
God is still doing spectacular miracles like the one in John 4:48-53 that encourage belief in Him. Gospel Singer DeWayne Woods got HIV. God got rid of it.
If God doesn't speedily answer your prayers for healing from a disease, a dying relationship or something else, will you endure (keep on trusting Him and living led by God the Holy Ghost)?
One of the definitions of "immortal" in Webster's New World Dictionary is "enduring." Blue (lan) is a color associated with immortality in China.
All creyentes (believers) are going to heaven (home). Some creyentes are not associated with enduring adversity along the journey (home).
A Tunisian expression for a weak person is, "Hit him with a bean, he will break."
No matter how strong we think we are, we all have areas of weaknesses and trust issues that show their brokenness.
Instead of being mad, disappointed, resentful or something else negative when you don't get a John 4:48-53 response to prayers, be thankful. God knows best what we need. Sometimes is takes a while to turn a mess into a miracle.
Have you experienced a 20-years-or-more healing?
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Sex, Lies and Education
Frederick McKinley Jones and his boss, Joseph Numero, formed the U.S. Thermo Control Company after Jones perfected a truck refrigeration unit. Jones' refrigeration unit meant that fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products, other food products, blood and medicines could now be shipped all over the country without spoiling.
Preservation is also important mentally and spiritually. The Epistle of Jude is written to creyentes (believers,) "to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.)
Once we receive a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost, God never lets go of us for all eternity. However, creyentes sometimes let go of God by sinning.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his sermon The Anatomy of a Shipwreck that lying seems good until no one trusts you anymore.
The sin of lying is common to singles and married people. Many married people lie to people who are not their spouse to get sex.
Why is it so hard to stay sexually satisfied inside marriage?
Since ancient times zi (the written word) has been revered among the Chinese. Have you tried Chinese pillow books to communicate better sexually with your spouse? Read my March 23, 2013, article "Have You Tried Chinese Pillow Books?"
Parents with awesome, affectionate, romantic, sexually sublime marriages are well positioned to talk to their children about sex. When parents have little or no sexual relationship, talking to their children about sex may inspire their children to think, "What do you know?;" "You aren't having fun and sexual sinners seem to be having fun." These children may decide to pursue sex outside of marriage.
We live in times when schools, the media and others cannot be relied upon to teach our children about sex. Many advocates exist who promote sex outside of marriage and adolescent autonomy from parents, family and the Christian faith.
Who we are on the inside shows up on the outside. Is the view attractive?
Attractive, awful and somewhere in between, "Orad sin cesar" (Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960.) "Pray without ceasing" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.) God likes us to talk with Him; God is excited to stop us from spoiling our relationships.
Preservation is also important mentally and spiritually. The Epistle of Jude is written to creyentes (believers,) "to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.)
Once we receive a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost, God never lets go of us for all eternity. However, creyentes sometimes let go of God by sinning.
Dr. Derek Grier says in his sermon The Anatomy of a Shipwreck that lying seems good until no one trusts you anymore.
The sin of lying is common to singles and married people. Many married people lie to people who are not their spouse to get sex.
Why is it so hard to stay sexually satisfied inside marriage?
Since ancient times zi (the written word) has been revered among the Chinese. Have you tried Chinese pillow books to communicate better sexually with your spouse? Read my March 23, 2013, article "Have You Tried Chinese Pillow Books?"
Parents with awesome, affectionate, romantic, sexually sublime marriages are well positioned to talk to their children about sex. When parents have little or no sexual relationship, talking to their children about sex may inspire their children to think, "What do you know?;" "You aren't having fun and sexual sinners seem to be having fun." These children may decide to pursue sex outside of marriage.
We live in times when schools, the media and others cannot be relied upon to teach our children about sex. Many advocates exist who promote sex outside of marriage and adolescent autonomy from parents, family and the Christian faith.
Who we are on the inside shows up on the outside. Is the view attractive?
Attractive, awful and somewhere in between, "Orad sin cesar" (Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960.) "Pray without ceasing" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.) God likes us to talk with Him; God is excited to stop us from spoiling our relationships.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Money and Friends
"In James 4:3, the Bible says we pray for blessings and don't get them because we've asked with evil, selfish motives. We want the blessing to be for ourselves exclusively. Instead, let's ask God to bless us so we can be a greater blessing. We might say, "God, bless me. Do something amazing in my finances. Get me to the point where I can buy somebody a car. Get me to the point, God, where if need be, I could rent an apartment for someone who doesn't have one and pay the rent for a year until she gets on her feet." Wouldn't that be wonderful? Or you might pray, "Help me, God, to be able to buy furniture for a family who doesn't have any. Help me be able to take them to a furniture store and just say, 'Here's your budget; pick out a house full of furniture.'" writes international, practical Bible teacher Joyce Meyer in her book Joy Redefined Loving Others.
God is not against people having pleasure. God desires that creyentes (believers) give and receive pleasure. George Washington Carver worked for Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute. They were both committed to helping people, especially African Americans. Washington died before Carver. Carver gave one year's salary to Booker T. Washington's memorial fund. Carver says about this generous gift, "It was a sacrifice in one way but a blessed privilege in another."
Unbelievers recognize the pleasure of giving. Meng was the prime minister of King Qin in ancient China. Meng sent his advisor Feng out to collect debts. Feng forgave all the loans of villagers saying he was doing it on orders from Meng. At first Meng was mad, but one year later Meng was merry for Meng had trouble on the job and had to return to his home village. People were glad to see him and welcomed him. Meng praised Feng.
Use money to make friends. Jesus Christ says in Luke 16:9 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960, "Y yo os digo: Ganad amigos por medio de las riquezas injustas, para que cuando estas falten, os reciban en las moradas eternas." "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.) Luke 16:9 New Living Translation Bible says, "Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
What are some compassionate, creative and committed ways you have used money to make friends?
God is not against people having pleasure. God desires that creyentes (believers) give and receive pleasure. George Washington Carver worked for Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute. They were both committed to helping people, especially African Americans. Washington died before Carver. Carver gave one year's salary to Booker T. Washington's memorial fund. Carver says about this generous gift, "It was a sacrifice in one way but a blessed privilege in another."
Unbelievers recognize the pleasure of giving. Meng was the prime minister of King Qin in ancient China. Meng sent his advisor Feng out to collect debts. Feng forgave all the loans of villagers saying he was doing it on orders from Meng. At first Meng was mad, but one year later Meng was merry for Meng had trouble on the job and had to return to his home village. People were glad to see him and welcomed him. Meng praised Feng.
Use money to make friends. Jesus Christ says in Luke 16:9 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960, "Y yo os digo: Ganad amigos por medio de las riquezas injustas, para que cuando estas falten, os reciban en las moradas eternas." "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.) Luke 16:9 New Living Translation Bible says, "Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
What are some compassionate, creative and committed ways you have used money to make friends?
Friday, April 5, 2013
Honor, Service and Relationships
"Then she came to the end of that concert, singing "Ave Maria" as nobody else can sing it. And they called her back and back and back and back again, and she finally ended by singing "Nobody Knows de Trouble I Seen." And her mother was sitting out in the audience, and she started crying; tears were flowing down her cheeks. And the person next to her said, "Mrs. Anderson, why are you crying? Your daughter is scoring tonight. The critics tomorrow will be lavishing their praise on her. Why are you crying?"
And Mrs. Anderson looked over with tears still flowing and said, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying for joy." She went on to say, "You may not remember; you wouldn't know. But I remember when Marian was growing up, and I was working in a kitchen till my hands were all but parched, my eyebrows all but scalded. I was working there to make it possible for my daughter to get an education. And I remember one day Marian came to me and said, 'Mother, I don't want to see you having to work like this.' And I looked down and said, 'Honey, I don't mind it. I'm doing it for you and I expect great things of you.'"
And finally one day somebody asked Marian Anderson in later years, "Miss Anderson, what has been the happiest moment of your life? Was it the moment that you had your debut in Carnegie Hall in New York? She said, "No, that wasn't it." Was it the moment you stood before the kings and queens of Europe?" "No, that wasn't it." "Well, Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Sibelius of Finland declared that his roof was too low for such a voice?" "No, that wasn't it." "Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Toscanini said that a voice like yours comes only once in a century?" "No, that wasn't it." "What was it then, Miss Anderson?" And she looked up and said quietly, "The happiest moment in my life was the moment that I could say, 'Mother, you can stop working now.'" Marian Anderson realized that she was where she was because somebody helped her to get there," said Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., about international Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson in his speech Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool.
Anderson's life showed that it is not foolish to honor your parents. "Honra a tu padre y a tu madre, para que tus dias se alarguen en la tierra que Jehova tu Dios te da," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you," says Bilingual Bible New King James Version.
On April 4th many honored Martin Luther King Jr., a father of four children, who was assassinated on this day 45 years ago. On April 4th deceased parents and other ancestors were honored for the Chinese holiday Qingming Festival.
Treating our parents well and other people well is also treating ourselves well. John Maxwell, author, speaker, entrepreneur writes in his May 2013 article for Success magazine entitled "Taking the Leap Is it time for your big, bold venture?," "People go along with people they get along with.
"Between 70 percent and 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service," author and former Burger King CEO Barry J. Gibbons once noted. Yikes! If that doesn't force you to put a smile on your face and some warmth in your handshake, I don't know what will."
Few smiles, few warm handshakes, a lack of parental respect and other poor service issues impact Christian disciplining. The ways in which we live in or out of love have a direct impact on the number and quality of our relationships.
As a part of Qingming Festival people sweep tombs. Ask God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost if there is anything that needs to be swept out of your mindset that is blocking a more influential love lifestyle. Then allow the power of God to change you and cause you to do more of those things that please Him.
And Mrs. Anderson looked over with tears still flowing and said, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying for joy." She went on to say, "You may not remember; you wouldn't know. But I remember when Marian was growing up, and I was working in a kitchen till my hands were all but parched, my eyebrows all but scalded. I was working there to make it possible for my daughter to get an education. And I remember one day Marian came to me and said, 'Mother, I don't want to see you having to work like this.' And I looked down and said, 'Honey, I don't mind it. I'm doing it for you and I expect great things of you.'"
And finally one day somebody asked Marian Anderson in later years, "Miss Anderson, what has been the happiest moment of your life? Was it the moment that you had your debut in Carnegie Hall in New York? She said, "No, that wasn't it." Was it the moment you stood before the kings and queens of Europe?" "No, that wasn't it." "Well, Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Sibelius of Finland declared that his roof was too low for such a voice?" "No, that wasn't it." "Miss Anderson, was it the moment that Toscanini said that a voice like yours comes only once in a century?" "No, that wasn't it." "What was it then, Miss Anderson?" And she looked up and said quietly, "The happiest moment in my life was the moment that I could say, 'Mother, you can stop working now.'" Marian Anderson realized that she was where she was because somebody helped her to get there," said Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., about international Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson in his speech Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool.
Anderson's life showed that it is not foolish to honor your parents. "Honra a tu padre y a tu madre, para que tus dias se alarguen en la tierra que Jehova tu Dios te da," dice Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you," says Bilingual Bible New King James Version.
On April 4th many honored Martin Luther King Jr., a father of four children, who was assassinated on this day 45 years ago. On April 4th deceased parents and other ancestors were honored for the Chinese holiday Qingming Festival.
Treating our parents well and other people well is also treating ourselves well. John Maxwell, author, speaker, entrepreneur writes in his May 2013 article for Success magazine entitled "Taking the Leap Is it time for your big, bold venture?," "People go along with people they get along with.
"Between 70 percent and 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service," author and former Burger King CEO Barry J. Gibbons once noted. Yikes! If that doesn't force you to put a smile on your face and some warmth in your handshake, I don't know what will."
Few smiles, few warm handshakes, a lack of parental respect and other poor service issues impact Christian disciplining. The ways in which we live in or out of love have a direct impact on the number and quality of our relationships.
As a part of Qingming Festival people sweep tombs. Ask God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost if there is anything that needs to be swept out of your mindset that is blocking a more influential love lifestyle. Then allow the power of God to change you and cause you to do more of those things that please Him.
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