During the time of African American slavery, some free African Americans lived with Native Americans. Ottawa, Seminole and other Native Americans also sometimes provided refuge for escaped slaves. African American James Beckwourth was born on a plantation in Virginia. Later he lived with the Crow Nation, married the daughter of a chief and became a Crow chief himself.
Luke 13:29 New Living Translation Bible says, "And people will come from all over the world—from east and west, north and south—to take their places in the Kingdom of God." Dr. Alveda King, a niece of Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, has African, Native American and European ancestors. She is also a Christian who talks about her heritage, the mix of heritage Americans possess, and her "family planning" experience in this Civil Rights and the Pro-Life Movement speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj4JAbHvw9U.
Alveda King's grandfather had a dream about her before she was born, and he encouraged her mother not to abort her. His dream came true. Alveda King is alive today and full of life. Women and girls are hurt by abortion. Men and boys are hurt by abortion too. Read my article "Do Fathers Have a Say in Abortion and Frozen Embryos?" http://michelefjackson.blogspot.com/2013/01/do-fathers-have-say-in-abortion-and.html.
Jesus welcomes people. Jesus even welcomes young children who are not wanted, planned or possessing a perfect physique. Yet some seek genetic testing to kill the disabled. A doctor suggested Andrea Bocelli's mom have an abortion because her son might have a disability. She didn't follow his advice. 1 Timothy 5:25 Amplified Bible says, "So also, good deeds are evident and conspicuous, and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden [indefinitely]." Andrea Bocelli, who is the biggest selling Classical musician in history, blind and a father, says he is glad to be alive; and he shares his story in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QfKCGTfn3o&feature=youtu.be. Do you have a good deed to share?
Some unborn boys and some unborn girls survive attempted abortions. Baby Ana Rosa Rodriquez survived an attempted abortion, but had her arm sliced off during the attempted abortion. Gospel Singer Fred Hammond survived an attempted abortion. Watch him tell his story here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXOM99fm1A8. Abortion caused Claire Culwell to be born with club feet and dislocated hips. She survived the attempted abortion, her twin did not. Culwell is adopted and learned about her past by finding her birth mother who sought an abortion when she was 13. Watch their story here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=571B4ZiIZ_Y.
Are you an abortion survivor? Share your story. Joyce Meyer writes in her book Joy redefined Loving Others, "It is impossible for you to be happy if you don't get your mind off yourself and start reaching out to help someone else."
While God does not always like what we do with the human physique, God likes the human physique. God also designed for parents to enjoy the sexual relations that may lead to starting a new human life. In Song of Songs/Song of Solomon 7:11 New Living Translation Bible a wife/lover says to her husband/lover, "Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers." How wonderful to come to life through married parents making love in the outdoors! Or perhaps your mother laid on the beach with her legs and feet extended up as her husband lay across her creating fantastic friction when you were conceived? Do you have a conception feasting love story to share? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Because God loves us, God does not will for us to have partner sex outside of marriage. Because God loves us, God wills for us to enjoy sex inside of marriage. God does not want any of us to be afraid of sexuality and try to stomp it out. God created sexuality. What God creates is good, beautiful and excellent provided we participate in God's creation according to His design. God designed sex to bond marital couples. Sometimes sex leads to reproduction. Read my article "Fearless Sex" at http://michelefjackson.blogspot.com/2013/01/fearless-sex.html.
Sexual sin doesn't have to stop us from enjoying fearless sex. Have you participated in killing an unborn boy or an unborn girl? If we are in relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit, abortion and any other sin does not separate us from the love of God. Stop sinning, and shake off shame and condemnation. Acts 3:19-20 Amplified Bible says, "So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord; And that He may send [to you] the Christ (the Messiah), Who before was designated and appointed for you—even Jesus."
Enjoy friendships with the opposite sex and the same sex, and if marriage is God's will for you, also enjoy sex with your spouse. John 10:10 Amplified Bible says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." Refuse to allow shame and condemnation to steal the joy and the feast of sex with your spouse. Read my articles "Second-Class Christian Citizens?" at http://michelefjackson.blogspot.com/2013/01/second-class-christian-citizens.html and "How to Catch and Keep Friends" at http://michelefjackson.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-catch-and-keep-friends.html.
Christopher Yuan says he was strangled by a boyfriend/lover in his book Out Of A Far Country A gay son's journey to God. A broken mother's search for hope., and he continued to stay in the relationship for a while. How did he escape sexual slavery? "I didn't leave homosexuality because I thought it was so bad...I left homosexuality because I found something better, and His name is Jesus," Yuan says. Christopher Yuan's story is not I'm sorry I got caught in my sins, wish to keep on sinning while God wipes out the consequences of my choices, but a story of real change and love of God. Proverbs 28:13 Complete Jewish Bible says, "He who conceals his sins will not succeed; he who confesses and abandons them will gain mercy." Watch Yuan talk here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEDG2xxDGAg,
Have you come out of sexual slavery?
Margaret Sanger of the American Birth Control League which became Planned Parenthood was against beautiful, balanced, Biblical sexuality and reproduction. She says in an interview with Mike Wallace, "I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world that have a disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically, delinquents, prisoners, all sort of things, just marked when they are born. That to me is the greatest sin that people can commit" (Watch the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsrOPDdbTzM.)
Margaret Sanger's thinking is against the human race and in favor of abortion, sterilization, infanticide and "family planning" targeted toward the disabled, low-income persons and those not of certain European heritage. For Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood and their likes it never was and is still not about reproductive rights. It's always been about reproductive racism, sexism, elitism, etc. Watch this Maafa 21 video http://maafa21.com/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJNX5bHYVI and read this fact sheet by The Rebecca Project for Human Rights http://www.rebeccaproject.org/images/stories/Fact%20Sheets/depo-provera-deadly-reproductive-violence-rebecca-project-for-human-rights-2013.pdf; "Over the past two years, the Rebecca Project has investigated, documented and interviewed scores of women and girls, deducing that birth control providers serving low-income women and girls such as Planned-Parenthood characteristically decline to inform patients about the FDA's warnings concerning Depo Provera. However, health providers are mandated ethically to inform women of harm and to post FDA Depo Provera Black-Box warnings on websites -- instead of misleading and misinforming families about the drug's dangerous side effects."
Do you have an abortion, sterilization, infanticide, Depo Provera, Norplant or other "family planning" experience to share?
In this interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doiWP2SQx2E Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, a husband and a father, talks about his nephew, Chen Kegui who is the husband of Liu Fang and father of a young son named Chen Fubin, and, he notes that Chen Kegui was put in the same jail shortly after Chen Guangcheng escaped China that Chinese authorities put Chen Guangcheng in after he filed a 2005 class-action lawsuit against forced abortion and forced sterilization. Chen Guangcheng also encourages people to blog in this interview.
"Numerous forced-abortion tragedies occur in China every single day," says Pastor Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association and author of the book God's Double Agent The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom in which one of the subjects Bob Fu writes about is how he, his wife, Heidi Fu, and their first child, Daniel Fu, escaped a forced-abortion tragedy that loomed over the family because Heidi Fu was pregnant without a pregnancy permission card required by China's one-child policy. Most people do not escape China's one-child policy that includes forced abortions and forced sterilizations. A woman subjected to a forced abortion at nine months of pregnancy shares her story here http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/blog/?p=1327. This article includes a letter from a woman subjected to a forced abortion and a forced sterilization http://www.chinaaid.org/2012/07/sister-guo-yanling-christian-in-guangxi.html; also "Her family home was forcibly demolished, all their assets were stolen, and she was placed under administrative detention."
China has implemented a new anti-rumor law. Read here http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/access-09102013102331.html for more information about the new anti-rumor law which has impacted Chen Guangfu, Chen Guangcheng's elder brother, and others. Don't be intimidated. Chen Guangcheng isn't. He's still speaking out for human rights. New York University rejected Chen Guangcheng. Now he's affiliated with the Witherspoon Institute, the Catholic University of America and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice which also with individuals and with groups like http://www.savesaeed.org is working to free Pastor Saeed Abedini who is imprisoned in Evin prison in Iran because of his Christian faith and works. Ephesians 4:14-15 Amplified Bible says, "So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
God wants us to live the best possible life. Deuteronomy 28:13 Amplified Bible says, "And the Lord shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day and are watchful to do them."
When Rafael, who has autism, and I go to restaurants we don't usually see persons with autism, Down's Syndrome, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy and other disabilities. Increasing the wage of service providers to the disabled would help the disabled enjoy restaurants with wait staff. Deanna Copeland is a service provider for Andrea Hood and only makes $1,400.00 monthly. Read their story here http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/08/disability_rights_advocates_fa.html.
Also as a society we need to embrace the behavior of people who act differently. Rafael eats with his hands. People in Ethiopia and other cultures eat with their hands. Read my article "Food, Love and Marriage" at http://michelefjackson.blogspot.com/2012/07/food-love-and-marriage.html.
Elaine Riddick is an advocate for the disabled. She is also an advocate for people forcibly sterilized, for unborn boys and unborn girls killed by abortion and for women's health.
Instead of receiving healthcare Elaine Riddick was forcibly sterilized by the state of North Carolina nine months after she was raped by a neighbor and was giving birth via a C-section to her son conceived through rape. Watch this CNN interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzYQLHHCxq8 in which Elaine Riddick says about her state-sponsored sterilization, "Later on because of my body was traumatized so severely I ended up having to have a total hysterectomy. But prior to that before I had the hysterectomy most of my life was I had to live in a whole lot of pain, hemorrhaging. When I got my monthly cycle ... it felt like someone had taken a knife and was gutting me .... My menstrual cycle ... wasn't normal because it lasted ... 12 to 15 days at a time, and this happened from the time ... after I had my son from the time I was 14 until I got into my 40s when I eventually did have to have a total hysterectomy."
Are you a victim of American state-sponsored sterilization? A Persian proverb says, "Opportunity should be grabbed." In North Carolina $10 million is to be split equally among those sterilized through the North Carolina Eugenics Board.
A Latino proverb says, "No hay tiempo como el presente" (There is no time like the present.") Compensation claims must be filed by June 30, 2014, for victims to receive a one-time payment to be distributed June 30, 2015.
North Carolina had a eugenics board from the 1930s through the 1970s through which social workers, family and others arranged for people to be sterilized. If you think you are one of the victims, you can ask the North Carolina Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation to check the North Carolina Eugenic Board's records by completing and mailing them this form: http://www.sterilizationvictims.nc.gov/documents/FirstPartyVerificationform.pdf. Sometimes people are not able to speak up for themselves and need advocates. If you are not a victim, but are an advocate for a victim, you can ask the North Carolina Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation to check the North Carolina Eugenic Board's records by completing and mailing them this form with required attachments: http://www.sterilizationvictims.nc.gov/documents/ThirdPartyVerificationform.pdf. These forms are verification and not a guarantee of compensation.
In South Africa Desmond Tutu retired as archbishop to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that exposed many of the evils done under apartheid, so that evil may be stopped and good promoted. North Carolina is not the only American state that did state-sponsored sterilizations.
Cindy Trimm says in her book Commanding Your Morning, "Think big and think detailed!.... Become a visionary--be creative. Take the limits off your mind! Think beyond where you are.... Ask God to enlarge your capacity for thinking, to take the limits off." Other American states besides North Carolina and other nations need to apologize to, financially compensate victims and erase all forms of "family planning" evil.
The door to evil has not been closed. US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in the 1927 Buck v. Bell case upholding American state-sponsored sterilization, "It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes.... Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Like Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in America Buck v. Bell has not been overturned.
A Korean proverb says, "The fortunate man has bread and friends." If you have filed a North Carolina verification form, please share your experience and inspire others. Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
Showing posts with label Civil Rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civil Rights. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Children Are People Too
Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco, California, to parents who were Chinese immigrants. He decided to take a trip to China in 1895. When he came back to the United States, he was told that the laws didn't allow Chinese immigrants re-entry into the United States. Wong Kim Ark wasn't an immigrant.
He took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court which in 1898 ruled that children born of immigrants in the United States are automatically US citizens.
Creyentes (believers) are reinas y reyes (queens and kings). We are called to stand up for justice. Proverbs 31:8 Amplified Bible says, "Open your mouth for the dumb [those unable to speak for themselves], for the rights of all who are left desolate and defenseless."
Even before children are born they are people. On Christmas of 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached the following words: "Now let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. Every man is somebody because he is a child of God…Man is more than a tiny vagary of whirling electrons or a wisp of smoke from a limitless smoldering. Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such….And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won't exploit people, we won't trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won't kill anybody."
Righting the wrongs done to immigrants, the unborn, parents and other people is a process. Some pieces of the process are to be informed about legislation and to pass good legislation. Here's a link of a former abortionist, Anthony Levantino, who is now against abortion and supporting H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8szDctI9lXM&feature=youtu.be. Here's a link to send an email to your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and to support the bill as is without changes: http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=62650516&type=CO.
Our Creator wants us to be a moral people who do not mistreat people by killing them through abortion or discriminating against them in immigration laws or in any other way. Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7:12 Amplified Bible, "So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets."
He took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court which in 1898 ruled that children born of immigrants in the United States are automatically US citizens.
Creyentes (believers) are reinas y reyes (queens and kings). We are called to stand up for justice. Proverbs 31:8 Amplified Bible says, "Open your mouth for the dumb [those unable to speak for themselves], for the rights of all who are left desolate and defenseless."
Even before children are born they are people. On Christmas of 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached the following words: "Now let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. Every man is somebody because he is a child of God…Man is more than a tiny vagary of whirling electrons or a wisp of smoke from a limitless smoldering. Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such….And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won't exploit people, we won't trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won't kill anybody."
Righting the wrongs done to immigrants, the unborn, parents and other people is a process. Some pieces of the process are to be informed about legislation and to pass good legislation. Here's a link of a former abortionist, Anthony Levantino, who is now against abortion and supporting H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8szDctI9lXM&feature=youtu.be. Here's a link to send an email to your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1797 the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and to support the bill as is without changes: http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=62650516&type=CO.
Our Creator wants us to be a moral people who do not mistreat people by killing them through abortion or discriminating against them in immigration laws or in any other way. Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7:12 Amplified Bible, "So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets."
Friday, May 31, 2013
Let Unity Rain
Salmo 133 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960 dice, "Mirad cuan bueno y cuan delicioso es habitar los hermanos juntos en armonia! Es como el buen oleo sobre la cabeza, el cual desciende sobre la barba, la barba de Aaron, y baja hasta el borde de sus vestiduras; como el rocio de Hermon, que desciende sobre los montes de Sion; porque alli envia Jehova bendicion, y vida eterna." Psalm 133 Bilingual Bible New King James Version says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing--life forevermore."
When Birmingham, Alabama's Public Safety Commissioner Eugene Connor ordered fire fighters to "Let 'em have it" in May 1963, the children of Birmingham who were marching in protest of segregation didn't find the water of the fire hoses like pleasant dew. The water blasted off clothes and caused some to smash into buildings and trees. Police clubs and police dogs also attacked the crusading children.
Enduring the clash was worth it. Next month in June 1963 President John F. Kennedy gave a speech on civil rights and announced a new civil rights bill. The year 1963 also happens to be the year that the Organization of African Unity -- now known as the African Union headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- was formed.
Living in oneness requires the removal of oppression. Good relationships and mistreatment do not match. Each human being is made in the image of God. God the King of Kings requires people to treat Him with love and respect. God made people with a built-in desire for love and respect.
The suspension bridge was invented in China. While everyone is made in the image of God, sin disconnects people from God. Jesus Christ is the Bridge (the Way) connecting creyentes (believers) to God. God wants creyentes to live in unity. Ephesians 4:3-6 Amplified Bible says, "Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace. [There is] one body and one Spirit—just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received—[There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all."
Is there something special that could be done in June 2013 to promote unity? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
When Birmingham, Alabama's Public Safety Commissioner Eugene Connor ordered fire fighters to "Let 'em have it" in May 1963, the children of Birmingham who were marching in protest of segregation didn't find the water of the fire hoses like pleasant dew. The water blasted off clothes and caused some to smash into buildings and trees. Police clubs and police dogs also attacked the crusading children.
Enduring the clash was worth it. Next month in June 1963 President John F. Kennedy gave a speech on civil rights and announced a new civil rights bill. The year 1963 also happens to be the year that the Organization of African Unity -- now known as the African Union headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- was formed.
Living in oneness requires the removal of oppression. Good relationships and mistreatment do not match. Each human being is made in the image of God. God the King of Kings requires people to treat Him with love and respect. God made people with a built-in desire for love and respect.
The suspension bridge was invented in China. While everyone is made in the image of God, sin disconnects people from God. Jesus Christ is the Bridge (the Way) connecting creyentes (believers) to God. God wants creyentes to live in unity. Ephesians 4:3-6 Amplified Bible says, "Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace. [There is] one body and one Spirit—just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received—[There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all."
Is there something special that could be done in June 2013 to promote unity? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/michelelove30.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Not Famous But Fundamental To The Kingdom Of God
Not all of Jesus Christ's 12 apostles have the same level of fame. For example, Peter is more recognized than Bartholomew. Matthew 10:1-4 New Living Translation Bible says, "Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. Here are the names of the twelve apostles:
first, Simon (also called Peter),
then Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James (son of Zebedee),
John (James’s brother),
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew (the tax collector),
James (son of Alphaeus),
Thaddaeus,
Simon (the zealot),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)."
Being less famous does not mean that someone is not fundamental to the Kingdom of God.
Many have heard of Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks, known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Few have heard of Civil Rights Activist Jo Ann Robinson. Both were essential to the Civil Rights Movement. Before Rosa Parks many black men and women had been asked to get off the bus because they were black including Jo Ann Robinson and two teenagers named Mary Louise Smith and Claudette Colvin.
It was Jo Ann Robinson and her teacher friends and fellow activists who wrote the following letter and distributed it through 52,500 leaflets in black neighborhoods igniting the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott to end racial segregation:
"This is for Monday, December 5, 1955
Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown into jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down.
It is the second time since the Claudette Colbert (sic) case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing This has to be stopped.
Negroos (sic) have rights, too, for if Negroos did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negroos, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother.
This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, oranywhere (sic) on Monday.
You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus.
You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off of all buses Monday." (Freedom Walkers The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman)
Not only did African Americans and others stay off the bus on Monday, they stayed off for more than one year, which helped the US Supreme Court and Montgomery, Alabama, government to end racial segregation on the public buses and other areas of life.
Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?
He Peirong, a human rights advocate and blogger, is also a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China.
A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
He Peirong is in China.
How many human rights activists will seek to leave China? Eva Pils, an associate professor of law in Hong Kong told Mark McDonald of the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times in his May 7, 2012, article "In the Chen Case, Collateral Damage," that for activists to leave China is “a hugely difficult decision, even for those who have been badly tortured.”
Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
Nevertheless, some risk going into undemocractic countries and pay a high price for it. Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The U.S. State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 570,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org. In a February 18, 2013, letter to his wife, Pastor Abedini wrote about physical and psychological abuse inflicted on him to compel him to deny his faith in Jesus Christ. He also wrote of plans to persevere in his relationship with God and to share it with others: "There are empty containers who are thirsty for a taste of the Living Water and we can quench their thirst by giving them Jesus Christ."
An African proverb from Kenya says, "On the way to one's beloved, there are no hills."
What are some hills you have climbed on the way to your beloved?
first, Simon (also called Peter),
then Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James (son of Zebedee),
John (James’s brother),
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew (the tax collector),
James (son of Alphaeus),
Thaddaeus,
Simon (the zealot),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)."
Being less famous does not mean that someone is not fundamental to the Kingdom of God.
Many have heard of Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks, known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Few have heard of Civil Rights Activist Jo Ann Robinson. Both were essential to the Civil Rights Movement. Before Rosa Parks many black men and women had been asked to get off the bus because they were black including Jo Ann Robinson and two teenagers named Mary Louise Smith and Claudette Colvin.
It was Jo Ann Robinson and her teacher friends and fellow activists who wrote the following letter and distributed it through 52,500 leaflets in black neighborhoods igniting the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott to end racial segregation:
"This is for Monday, December 5, 1955
Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown into jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down.
It is the second time since the Claudette Colbert (sic) case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing This has to be stopped.
Negroos (sic) have rights, too, for if Negroos did not ride the buses, they could not operate. Three-fourths of the riders are Negroos, yet we are arrested, or have to stand over empty seats. If we do not do something to stop these arrests, they will continue. The next time it may be you, or your daughter, or mother.
This woman's case will come up on Monday. We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial. Don't ride the buses to work, to town, to school, oranywhere (sic) on Monday.
You can afford to stay out of school for one day if you have no other way to go except by bus.
You can also afford to stay out of town for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off of all buses Monday." (Freedom Walkers The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman)
Not only did African Americans and others stay off the bus on Monday, they stayed off for more than one year, which helped the US Supreme Court and Montgomery, Alabama, government to end racial segregation on the public buses and other areas of life.
Chen Guangcheng is the husband of Yuan Weijing and the father of a girl and a boy. He became internationally known for filing a 2005 law suit against a local government for forced abortions and forced sterilizations practiced as part of China’s one-child policy.
Guangcheng's lawsuit was rejected, and he was placed under house arrest in Shandong, China, with guards surrounding his house, his cell phone service cut off, access to the Internet blocked and bright lights shinning on his house at night.
Tejas is the name the Spanish gave to the area that became the US state of Texas. The Spanish chose the name based on a Native American word for "friend."
Guangcheng, who became blind as a result of a childhood illness and now wears dark sunglasses, had friends help him to escape from house arrest in April 2012. He Peirong drove Guangcheng to the US embassy in Beijing. Were they traveling in a Corolla, the best-selling car of all time produced by the Japanese company Toyota?
He Peirong, a human rights advocate and blogger, is also a key member of a group of activists who organize support for Guangcheng in China.
A deal was worked out between China and the United States; now Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who also helped the disabled win public benefits and aided farmers fighting illegal land seizures, lives in New York with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and their two children.
On April 9, 2013, he testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee On Foreign Affairs about his family's and other people's persecution in China and other ongoing human rights abuses in China. Guangcheng gave Congress a list of 130,000 Chinese officials involved in forced abortions and forced sterilizations.
He Peirong is in China.
How many human rights activists will seek to leave China? Eva Pils, an associate professor of law in Hong Kong told Mark McDonald of the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times in his May 7, 2012, article "In the Chen Case, Collateral Damage," that for activists to leave China is “a hugely difficult decision, even for those who have been badly tortured.”
Chen Guangcheng said, "Recently, many friends and neighbors who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about," (January 29, 2013, Reuters article entitled "Blind dissident urges global pressure on China over rights" by Paul Eckert.)
Nevertheless, some risk going into undemocractic countries and pay a high price for it. Pastor and U.S. Citizen Saeed Abedini was setting up an orphanage and Christian house churches in Iran when Iranian authorities put him under house arrest in July 2012 separating him from his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, and their two children. In September 2012 they arrested him. In January 2013 Iranian authorities sentenced him to an eight-year prison sentence for threatening Iran's national security. The U.S. State Department, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union have all called for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release, and over 570,000 people worldwide from over 180 countries have signed a petition lending him support. A campaign to write letters to him for his May 7th birthday and to sign the petition is being coordinated at http://www.savesaeed.org. In a February 18, 2013, letter to his wife, Pastor Abedini wrote about physical and psychological abuse inflicted on him to compel him to deny his faith in Jesus Christ. He also wrote of plans to persevere in his relationship with God and to share it with others: "There are empty containers who are thirsty for a taste of the Living Water and we can quench their thirst by giving them Jesus Christ."
An African proverb from Kenya says, "On the way to one's beloved, there are no hills."
What are some hills you have climbed on the way to your beloved?
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 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."
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Power to End Unequal Treatment
When the laws of people are in line with the law of God, these laws show us what sin is, how to properly treat people and what good is. Matthew 7:12 English Standard Version Bible says, "“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Galatians 3:28-29 the Message Bible says, "In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises."
Rosa Parks, mother of the Civil Rights Movement, fought for the implementation in American society of the idea that all people are equal. When Parks refused to give up her seat in December 1955 in obedience to segregation law, she was arrested.
Parks had been branch secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP for several years. Along with Edgar Daniel Nixon, head of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, and other Civil Rights leaders, Parks agreed to use her case to pursue an end to segregation. The Civil Rights leaders also decided to boycott the Montgomery buses. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "We're going to work with grim and firm determination to gain justice on the buses in this city. And...we are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong...If we are wrong, justice is a lie. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream..."
After a little more than one year of the boycott, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rosa Parks, declaring Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional. It was the beginning of the end of segregation.
Parks said, "People always say that I [didn't give] up my seat because I was I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically...The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Segregation eventually became illegal in the United States of America, but not all unequal treatment as evidenced by issues such as abortion, immigration, disability, sexuality and employment. Why do we still struggle with unequal treatment?
Christian Minister Watchman Nee said in his book The Normal Christian Life, "When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before him; but when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that draws to sin. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am."
We all need a daily dose of God the Holy Ghost to be delivered from who we are and to live in growing evidence of the love of God on the inside showing up on the outside. The more people living in the ways of God empowered by God, the less unequal treatment and the less other sin. God living on the inside is the power to fulfill love. Romans 13:10 Amplified Bible says, "Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law."
Follow me (michelelove30) on Twitter. Recommend this article on Google.
Rosa Parks, mother of the Civil Rights Movement, fought for the implementation in American society of the idea that all people are equal. When Parks refused to give up her seat in December 1955 in obedience to segregation law, she was arrested.
Parks had been branch secretary for the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP for several years. Along with Edgar Daniel Nixon, head of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, and other Civil Rights leaders, Parks agreed to use her case to pursue an end to segregation. The Civil Rights leaders also decided to boycott the Montgomery buses. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "We're going to work with grim and firm determination to gain justice on the buses in this city. And...we are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong...If we are wrong, justice is a lie. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream..."
After a little more than one year of the boycott, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rosa Parks, declaring Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional. It was the beginning of the end of segregation.
Parks said, "People always say that I [didn't give] up my seat because I was I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically...The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Segregation eventually became illegal in the United States of America, but not all unequal treatment as evidenced by issues such as abortion, immigration, disability, sexuality and employment. Why do we still struggle with unequal treatment?
Christian Minister Watchman Nee said in his book The Normal Christian Life, "When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before him; but when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that draws to sin. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am."
We all need a daily dose of God the Holy Ghost to be delivered from who we are and to live in growing evidence of the love of God on the inside showing up on the outside. The more people living in the ways of God empowered by God, the less unequal treatment and the less other sin. God living on the inside is the power to fulfill love. Romans 13:10 Amplified Bible says, "Love does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law."
Follow me (michelelove30) on Twitter. Recommend this article on Google.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
A Helping Hand
"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else," said Booker T. Washington, an educator, speaker, author and Civil Rights Leader who was born into slavery and rose to the top of African-American leadership during Jim Crow segregation. Wu Yiebing and Cao Weiping may have never heard of Booker T. Washington, but they have wholeheartedly embraced the message in his saying.
Keith Bradsher writes in his "In China, Betting It All on a Child in College" The New York Times February 17, 2013, article, "Mr. Wu and Mrs. Cao, who grew up in tiny villages in western China and became migrants in search of better-paying work, have scrimped their entire lives. For nearly two decades, they have lived in a cramped and drafty 200-square-foot house with a thatch roof. They have never owned a car. They do not take vacations -- they have never seen the ocean. They have skipped traditional New Year trips to their ancestral village for up to five straight years to save on bus fares and gifts, and for Mr. Wu to earn extra holiday pay in the mines. Despite their frugality, they have essentially no retirement savings.
Thanks to these sacrifices, their daughter, Wu Caoying, is now a 19-year-old college sophomore."
The couple have one child, Wu Caoying. Abortions are forced on women in China. Since 1979, Chinese couples have been limited to one child by law in order to control the country's population. Read my article "Thoughts About Abortion.
Mr. Wu and Mrs. Cao have invested in their daughter expecting her to get a job or run a business after college graduation and to financially support them in their old age.
Family helping family is Biblical. Proverbs 11:25 Amplified Bible says, "The liberal person shall be enriched, and he who waters shall himself be watered."
The New York Times reports that for seven years it followed the family of Wu Yiebing, Cao Weiping and Wu Caoying. The New York Times also says this family is like other poor families in China.
Bradsher writes in his article, "She has chosen to major in logistics, learning how goods are distributed, a growing industry in China as ever more families order online instead of visiting stores.
But the major is the most popular at her school, which could signal a future glut in the field. That is a sobering prospect at a time when young college graduates in China are four times as likely to be unemployed as young people who attended only elementary school, because factory jobs are more plentiful than office jobs."
God has a unique plan for each person's life, and it is not always the safest route. Someone said there are 365 statements in the Bible encouraging us to be not afraid in living according to God's will in every area of life.
Nick Vujicic was born in Australia with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He's good with numbers. Family and others encouraged him to pursue a financial career, and they took a while to warm up to him telling them that God called him into motivational speaking and evangelism. But they did warm up. Today Vujicic is an international motivational speaker and evangelist. He is also an author, runs a non-profit group, Life Without Limbs, is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara and the couple had a baby boy, Kiyoshi James Vujicic, born to them on February 13, 2013.
One of the benefits of receiving and living in a-now-and-eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost is that God will bless us even in economic hard times. Genesis 26:1-3, 12-13 Amplified Bible says, "And there was a famine in the land, other than the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you. Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. . . .Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings. And the man became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and distinguished"
The blessings of God do not mean that every believer will be financially rich. It may be that being financially middle-class is best for most. Agur writes in Proverbs 30:8-9 Amplified Bible, "Remove far from me falsehood and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, Lest I be full and deny You and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal, and so profane the name of my God."
Many people desire to be rich like Isaac rather than middle class. Isaac was never poor. Even though Isaac knew how to work the resources God gave him in Gerar, Isaac had a head start on being wealthy. Isaac's father, Abraham, was wealthy. After Abraham died, his wealth went to Isaac. Genesis 25:5 English Standard Version Bible says, "Abraham gave all he had to Isaac."
A generous, financial helping-hand from those with means to those of lesser means is Biblical. Read my article, "Faith, Fear and Japanese Americans."
Keith Bradsher writes in his "In China, Betting It All on a Child in College" The New York Times February 17, 2013, article, "Mr. Wu and Mrs. Cao, who grew up in tiny villages in western China and became migrants in search of better-paying work, have scrimped their entire lives. For nearly two decades, they have lived in a cramped and drafty 200-square-foot house with a thatch roof. They have never owned a car. They do not take vacations -- they have never seen the ocean. They have skipped traditional New Year trips to their ancestral village for up to five straight years to save on bus fares and gifts, and for Mr. Wu to earn extra holiday pay in the mines. Despite their frugality, they have essentially no retirement savings.
Thanks to these sacrifices, their daughter, Wu Caoying, is now a 19-year-old college sophomore."
The couple have one child, Wu Caoying. Abortions are forced on women in China. Since 1979, Chinese couples have been limited to one child by law in order to control the country's population. Read my article "Thoughts About Abortion.
Mr. Wu and Mrs. Cao have invested in their daughter expecting her to get a job or run a business after college graduation and to financially support them in their old age.
Family helping family is Biblical. Proverbs 11:25 Amplified Bible says, "The liberal person shall be enriched, and he who waters shall himself be watered."
The New York Times reports that for seven years it followed the family of Wu Yiebing, Cao Weiping and Wu Caoying. The New York Times also says this family is like other poor families in China.
Bradsher writes in his article, "She has chosen to major in logistics, learning how goods are distributed, a growing industry in China as ever more families order online instead of visiting stores.
But the major is the most popular at her school, which could signal a future glut in the field. That is a sobering prospect at a time when young college graduates in China are four times as likely to be unemployed as young people who attended only elementary school, because factory jobs are more plentiful than office jobs."
God has a unique plan for each person's life, and it is not always the safest route. Someone said there are 365 statements in the Bible encouraging us to be not afraid in living according to God's will in every area of life.
Nick Vujicic was born in Australia with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He's good with numbers. Family and others encouraged him to pursue a financial career, and they took a while to warm up to him telling them that God called him into motivational speaking and evangelism. But they did warm up. Today Vujicic is an international motivational speaker and evangelist. He is also an author, runs a non-profit group, Life Without Limbs, is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara and the couple had a baby boy, Kiyoshi James Vujicic, born to them on February 13, 2013.
One of the benefits of receiving and living in a-now-and-eternal relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost is that God will bless us even in economic hard times. Genesis 26:1-3, 12-13 Amplified Bible says, "And there was a famine in the land, other than the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you. Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. . . .Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings. And the man became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and distinguished"
The blessings of God do not mean that every believer will be financially rich. It may be that being financially middle-class is best for most. Agur writes in Proverbs 30:8-9 Amplified Bible, "Remove far from me falsehood and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, Lest I be full and deny You and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal, and so profane the name of my God."
Many people desire to be rich like Isaac rather than middle class. Isaac was never poor. Even though Isaac knew how to work the resources God gave him in Gerar, Isaac had a head start on being wealthy. Isaac's father, Abraham, was wealthy. After Abraham died, his wealth went to Isaac. Genesis 25:5 English Standard Version Bible says, "Abraham gave all he had to Isaac."
A generous, financial helping-hand from those with means to those of lesser means is Biblical. Read my article, "Faith, Fear and Japanese Americans."
Monday, February 11, 2013
God and the Gay Lifestyle
Religious leaders wanted to stone to death a woman caught in adultery as recorded in John 8. In response to the leaders Jesus Christ said, ". . . Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her," and to the woman He said, ". . . I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more."
Sexual freedom is found when we are free of condemnation and harmful living, being led to be whole and to do good in a daily relationship with God. The religious leaders where trying to stone the woman based on texts such as Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 22 which discuss various sexual sins including sex outside marriage and the gay lifestyle which the 2000 Census reports one to four percent of gays make up the population of most U.S. cities. John 8 does not mention the man or woman who the woman caught in adultery was having sex with.
When Jesus implemented His earthly ministry more than 2,000 years ago He revealed the loving way to use the law. God loves us and tells us the way to live that will bring goodness and an enjoyable life for ourselves and others. Charlene Cothran is an African-American who was involved in gay-rights activism and lesbian relationships for nearly 30 years. God has been loving Cothran since way before she was born and was not content to allow her to live in darkness. God revealed Himself in a compelling way in 2006, and Cothran received a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Today Cothran is a licensed and ordained international minister and has founded a ministry called The EVIDENCE Ministry, Inc. Cothran says about EVIDENCE, "God has shown me that people who no longer want homosexuality and other sexual brokenness in their lives need to see the EVIDENCE of change in those who are now made free by simply believing and applying the Word of God to daily life."
Mike and Stephanie Goeke were married in September of 1994, but Mike bolted from their marriage in November of 1996 to build a homosexual lifestyle. Mike knew the difference between right and wrong, yet Mike chose to do things his way instead of God's way reminiscent of prideful ancient Egypt who had the knowledge of God but rejected it to chose to worship multiple gods which are really the glorification/deification/pride of man in their Egyptian Mystery System.
Mike's pride and rebellion didn't stop God from keeping His compassionate hand on Mike and Stephanie. After six months of separation, this couple reconciled. In 1999, they formed Cross Power Ministries. In 2001, Mike left the practice of law to go on staff at Stonegate Fellowship in Midland, Texas, as Executive Pastor. In 2005, Mike took the position of Executive Vice President and Church Liaison for Exodus International in Orlando, Florida. They moved back to Midland in December of 2006, and Mike is currently a pastor in the counseling department of Stonegate Fellowship. Mike and Stephanie have three young children named Margaret, Frances and Peter.
When Mike confronted Stephanie with his homosexuality, she could have fainted and fled from her marriage. Instead she forwent divorce and deliberately kept hope of reconciliation alive and diligently chased after God.
Love and courage are needed to confront people who choose to harm themselves and others through the gay lifestyle and other sins. Jesus showed in John 8 that confrontation need not be violent or disrespectful or unloving. Mike Goeke writes in his article "A Changed Life, A Changed Man" dated October 5, 2010, for the exodusinternational.org website, "On November 1, 1996, I left Stephanie a letter on the door telling her I was gay and that I wanted a divorce. After leaving Stephanie, I made up for lost time and jumped head first into the gay lifestyle. I was out and proud. I went to the Metropolitan Community Church and was determined to be a different kind of gay man – moral, upright and nonpromiscuous. I failed miserably and completely from day one. Meanwhile, the immediate rejection from Stephanie and my family that I expected did not happen. While no one accepted what I was doing as right, no one rejected me or cut me off. Stephanie had known nothing of my struggle and had no exposure to homosexuality, but she refused to pursue a divorce. She said “God put us together and I don't know how, but I know He can repair this situation."
God created our skin with delicate nerve endings that release into our bodies endorphins and oxytocin -- "feel good" chemicals. When a man and a man or a woman and a woman have sexual relations it feels good and is bonding.
Yet everything that feels good is not good. It also feels good to some to eat themselves into obesity. Obesity is a health hazard linked to multiple diseases including heart disease, diabetes and cancers. Homosexuality and lesbianism disfigure the beautiful sexuality that God created and in a marriage and family context denies the couple and the children the learning and appreciation of differences in a father and mother. "Vive la difference!"(Long live the difference (between the sexes)). Ravi Zacharias says in his sermon "Acceptance of Homosexuality in Christianity" that it is absolutely possible to have a homosexual orientation, be a Christian and not practice homosexual sex acts. Zacharias says, "Sex is a sacred gift of God" designed to be engaged in between a husband and wife. Christoper Yuan, an ex-gay who with his mother coauthored a book about his experience called Out of a Far Country and travels the world to speak about homosexuality, says in the November 26, 2012, article "Focus on "Holy Sexuality" -- Real Stories for November 2012" for the exodusinternational.org website, "Change is not the absence of struggles, it’s the freedom to choose holiness in the midst of those struggles."
Homosexual, lesbian, heterosexual sex outside of marriage, other sins don't stop God from loving us passionately. Pregnant women in predynastic Egypt wore tattoos as protective amulets on their abdomens, thighs and breasts. While we wouldn't want to worship the wrong one, God likes tattoos and people. Believers are Zion. Isaiah 49:16 Amplified Bible says, "Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before Me." God is willing and able to redeem us all and make us holy and righteous. Hebrews 10:10, 14 Amplified Bible says about those who have received a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost, "And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One). . . . For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy."
Many have come out of the gay life in a similar way that many heterosexuals have come out of a lifestyle of practicing partner sex outside of marriage. Coming out of sexual sin is not simple and is often not a short-term process. "Muchas personas han tenido que tragar sapos para estar saludables." ("Many people had to swallow toads (to go through hell) to be healthy."
Sometimes people go through a season of several times of entering and exiting the gay life before they leave it permanently. Minister and Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin was raped by his uncle at eight years of age; he became a homosexual; eventually, Jesus delivered him from homosexuality. McClurkin sings in his song "We Fall Down" from the album Praise Your Way Out: Songs of Inspiration & Hope, "We fall down, but we get up. We fall down, but we get up. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up."
Please share testimonies of coming out of the homosexual or lesbian lifestyle and into a vibrant relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Please feel free to give details of the process of liberation. "Pasos cortos, vista larga." ("Short steps, long view.")
Robert, a former homosexual and current member of Courage, a support group for homosexuals and lesbians coming out of the gay life style and maintaining a life of Biblical sexuality, writes in his testimony for the website couragerc.com, "For me, same-sex lust has been a futile attempt to be who I am (my own man) by trying to possess another man. But instead of becoming whole, I'd simply be left as I was, and I would have abused the other man. In reality, I don't need to possess another man. Rather, by fixating on and uniting with Jesus and growing in friendship and virtue with other men, I can let God give me my own man, that is, myself . . . God wants each of us to confidently be the gifts-the men and women-He made us to be. He wants us to give ourselves away. Love is self-giving, not other-taking. We find our fulfillment in becoming like Christ, who gave us His all."
Dr. Derek Grier said in his January 13, 2013, mid-morning sermon, "The more I get to know God, the more I get to know myself."
Courage also has Courage Latino, Courage Italia and Courage French.
Cothran says as a lesbian there were times of joy and also times of intense loneliness, but today freed from a gay life and found in relationship with God, she says, "The peace and joy that I have I wouldn't trade for anything."
I once had a homosexual tell me he was against abortion, but in favor of anal intercourse. He began to tell me how to have anal intercourse. I cut him off with diversion, but now I think it would be better to deal directly with anal intercourse from a Biblical perspective. Please be my mitr (friend), if you are an ex-gay who has had anal intercourse or a heterosexual, please leave an on-line comment explaining your Biblical perspective on this practice.
The body of Jesus Christ should be equipped to handle a wide variety of issues, so that we can be used by God to spread His Kingdom widely. Bishop T.D. Jakes says something that should be applicable to all of us: "I believe my destiny is to help others reach their destiny." Here is an excellent video on equipping leaders from John Maxwell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLkRPmYBtX8. Please leave on-line comments.
Some sexual practices are different, but not diabolical. In the movie Dances With Wolves the wife of the Sioux holy man is on top of him making delicious while family and friends are sleeping in the same room! Other people are not participating in the marital sex, they are just present. In our current American culture, some parents complain that after having children, their sex life tanks. Please leave an on-line comment giving your views about the Dances With Wolves sexual technique and if you think it would help parental, marital sex life. Please also share other marital-sex practices among Native American tribes.
You don't have to be a Native American to share your thoughts on marital sex. Have you christened every room of your house with the marriage ménage à trois of God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, God the Holy Ghost, a wife and a husband? Do you play spousal games like "Hide and Go Freak," Manos Arriba (Hands Up) or invent your own games?
For much of American history it was illegal for people of different races to be married. It wasn't until 1967, which just happens to be the year I was born, that interracial marriage in America was legal. Before it was legal Fred and Ann Jealous were a white and black couple. Benjamin Jealous, their son and a Rhodes scholar, is currently the president of the NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the country. Do you think interracial couples are still persecuted in America?
What are some wonderful ways we could welcome persons in the gay lifestyle and work with them to encourage a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost and then equip them for a Kingdom lifestyle?
Where are the tongues of fire falling on apostolic heads in the modern church age?
It seems like too many horror stories exist like The Beast and A Baptist instead of love stories like The Beautiful and Bold Bride. Of course in every section of the body of Christ and the world at large their are good and bad people.
Proverbs 11:25 Amplified Bible says, "The liberal person shall be enriched, and he who waters shall himself be watered."
Money is not the only way to be generous, but it is a wonderful tool to advance the Kingdom of God. One word for cash in Spanish is efectivo. Luke 16:8-9 the Message Bible says, "“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”"
Sexual freedom is found when we are free of condemnation and harmful living, being led to be whole and to do good in a daily relationship with God. The religious leaders where trying to stone the woman based on texts such as Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 22 which discuss various sexual sins including sex outside marriage and the gay lifestyle which the 2000 Census reports one to four percent of gays make up the population of most U.S. cities. John 8 does not mention the man or woman who the woman caught in adultery was having sex with.
When Jesus implemented His earthly ministry more than 2,000 years ago He revealed the loving way to use the law. God loves us and tells us the way to live that will bring goodness and an enjoyable life for ourselves and others. Charlene Cothran is an African-American who was involved in gay-rights activism and lesbian relationships for nearly 30 years. God has been loving Cothran since way before she was born and was not content to allow her to live in darkness. God revealed Himself in a compelling way in 2006, and Cothran received a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Today Cothran is a licensed and ordained international minister and has founded a ministry called The EVIDENCE Ministry, Inc. Cothran says about EVIDENCE, "God has shown me that people who no longer want homosexuality and other sexual brokenness in their lives need to see the EVIDENCE of change in those who are now made free by simply believing and applying the Word of God to daily life."
Mike and Stephanie Goeke were married in September of 1994, but Mike bolted from their marriage in November of 1996 to build a homosexual lifestyle. Mike knew the difference between right and wrong, yet Mike chose to do things his way instead of God's way reminiscent of prideful ancient Egypt who had the knowledge of God but rejected it to chose to worship multiple gods which are really the glorification/deification/pride of man in their Egyptian Mystery System.
Mike's pride and rebellion didn't stop God from keeping His compassionate hand on Mike and Stephanie. After six months of separation, this couple reconciled. In 1999, they formed Cross Power Ministries. In 2001, Mike left the practice of law to go on staff at Stonegate Fellowship in Midland, Texas, as Executive Pastor. In 2005, Mike took the position of Executive Vice President and Church Liaison for Exodus International in Orlando, Florida. They moved back to Midland in December of 2006, and Mike is currently a pastor in the counseling department of Stonegate Fellowship. Mike and Stephanie have three young children named Margaret, Frances and Peter.
When Mike confronted Stephanie with his homosexuality, she could have fainted and fled from her marriage. Instead she forwent divorce and deliberately kept hope of reconciliation alive and diligently chased after God.
Love and courage are needed to confront people who choose to harm themselves and others through the gay lifestyle and other sins. Jesus showed in John 8 that confrontation need not be violent or disrespectful or unloving. Mike Goeke writes in his article "A Changed Life, A Changed Man" dated October 5, 2010, for the exodusinternational.org website, "On November 1, 1996, I left Stephanie a letter on the door telling her I was gay and that I wanted a divorce. After leaving Stephanie, I made up for lost time and jumped head first into the gay lifestyle. I was out and proud. I went to the Metropolitan Community Church and was determined to be a different kind of gay man – moral, upright and nonpromiscuous. I failed miserably and completely from day one. Meanwhile, the immediate rejection from Stephanie and my family that I expected did not happen. While no one accepted what I was doing as right, no one rejected me or cut me off. Stephanie had known nothing of my struggle and had no exposure to homosexuality, but she refused to pursue a divorce. She said “God put us together and I don't know how, but I know He can repair this situation."
God created our skin with delicate nerve endings that release into our bodies endorphins and oxytocin -- "feel good" chemicals. When a man and a man or a woman and a woman have sexual relations it feels good and is bonding.
Yet everything that feels good is not good. It also feels good to some to eat themselves into obesity. Obesity is a health hazard linked to multiple diseases including heart disease, diabetes and cancers. Homosexuality and lesbianism disfigure the beautiful sexuality that God created and in a marriage and family context denies the couple and the children the learning and appreciation of differences in a father and mother. "Vive la difference!"(Long live the difference (between the sexes)). Ravi Zacharias says in his sermon "Acceptance of Homosexuality in Christianity" that it is absolutely possible to have a homosexual orientation, be a Christian and not practice homosexual sex acts. Zacharias says, "Sex is a sacred gift of God" designed to be engaged in between a husband and wife. Christoper Yuan, an ex-gay who with his mother coauthored a book about his experience called Out of a Far Country and travels the world to speak about homosexuality, says in the November 26, 2012, article "Focus on "Holy Sexuality" -- Real Stories for November 2012" for the exodusinternational.org website, "Change is not the absence of struggles, it’s the freedom to choose holiness in the midst of those struggles."
Homosexual, lesbian, heterosexual sex outside of marriage, other sins don't stop God from loving us passionately. Pregnant women in predynastic Egypt wore tattoos as protective amulets on their abdomens, thighs and breasts. While we wouldn't want to worship the wrong one, God likes tattoos and people. Believers are Zion. Isaiah 49:16 Amplified Bible says, "Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before Me." God is willing and able to redeem us all and make us holy and righteous. Hebrews 10:10, 14 Amplified Bible says about those who have received a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost, "And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One). . . . For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy."
Many have come out of the gay life in a similar way that many heterosexuals have come out of a lifestyle of practicing partner sex outside of marriage. Coming out of sexual sin is not simple and is often not a short-term process. "Muchas personas han tenido que tragar sapos para estar saludables." ("Many people had to swallow toads (to go through hell) to be healthy."
Sometimes people go through a season of several times of entering and exiting the gay life before they leave it permanently. Minister and Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin was raped by his uncle at eight years of age; he became a homosexual; eventually, Jesus delivered him from homosexuality. McClurkin sings in his song "We Fall Down" from the album Praise Your Way Out: Songs of Inspiration & Hope, "We fall down, but we get up. We fall down, but we get up. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up."
Please share testimonies of coming out of the homosexual or lesbian lifestyle and into a vibrant relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost. Please feel free to give details of the process of liberation. "Pasos cortos, vista larga." ("Short steps, long view.")
Robert, a former homosexual and current member of Courage, a support group for homosexuals and lesbians coming out of the gay life style and maintaining a life of Biblical sexuality, writes in his testimony for the website couragerc.com, "For me, same-sex lust has been a futile attempt to be who I am (my own man) by trying to possess another man. But instead of becoming whole, I'd simply be left as I was, and I would have abused the other man. In reality, I don't need to possess another man. Rather, by fixating on and uniting with Jesus and growing in friendship and virtue with other men, I can let God give me my own man, that is, myself . . . God wants each of us to confidently be the gifts-the men and women-He made us to be. He wants us to give ourselves away. Love is self-giving, not other-taking. We find our fulfillment in becoming like Christ, who gave us His all."
Dr. Derek Grier said in his January 13, 2013, mid-morning sermon, "The more I get to know God, the more I get to know myself."
Courage also has Courage Latino, Courage Italia and Courage French.
Cothran says as a lesbian there were times of joy and also times of intense loneliness, but today freed from a gay life and found in relationship with God, she says, "The peace and joy that I have I wouldn't trade for anything."
I once had a homosexual tell me he was against abortion, but in favor of anal intercourse. He began to tell me how to have anal intercourse. I cut him off with diversion, but now I think it would be better to deal directly with anal intercourse from a Biblical perspective. Please be my mitr (friend), if you are an ex-gay who has had anal intercourse or a heterosexual, please leave an on-line comment explaining your Biblical perspective on this practice.
The body of Jesus Christ should be equipped to handle a wide variety of issues, so that we can be used by God to spread His Kingdom widely. Bishop T.D. Jakes says something that should be applicable to all of us: "I believe my destiny is to help others reach their destiny." Here is an excellent video on equipping leaders from John Maxwell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLkRPmYBtX8. Please leave on-line comments.
Some sexual practices are different, but not diabolical. In the movie Dances With Wolves the wife of the Sioux holy man is on top of him making delicious while family and friends are sleeping in the same room! Other people are not participating in the marital sex, they are just present. In our current American culture, some parents complain that after having children, their sex life tanks. Please leave an on-line comment giving your views about the Dances With Wolves sexual technique and if you think it would help parental, marital sex life. Please also share other marital-sex practices among Native American tribes.
You don't have to be a Native American to share your thoughts on marital sex. Have you christened every room of your house with the marriage ménage à trois of God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, God the Holy Ghost, a wife and a husband? Do you play spousal games like "Hide and Go Freak," Manos Arriba (Hands Up) or invent your own games?
For much of American history it was illegal for people of different races to be married. It wasn't until 1967, which just happens to be the year I was born, that interracial marriage in America was legal. Before it was legal Fred and Ann Jealous were a white and black couple. Benjamin Jealous, their son and a Rhodes scholar, is currently the president of the NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the country. Do you think interracial couples are still persecuted in America?
What are some wonderful ways we could welcome persons in the gay lifestyle and work with them to encourage a relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost and then equip them for a Kingdom lifestyle?
Where are the tongues of fire falling on apostolic heads in the modern church age?
It seems like too many horror stories exist like The Beast and A Baptist instead of love stories like The Beautiful and Bold Bride. Of course in every section of the body of Christ and the world at large their are good and bad people.
Proverbs 11:25 Amplified Bible says, "The liberal person shall be enriched, and he who waters shall himself be watered."
Money is not the only way to be generous, but it is a wonderful tool to advance the Kingdom of God. One word for cash in Spanish is efectivo. Luke 16:8-9 the Message Bible says, "“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”"
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Marian Anderson
We do not pull our own selves up by our own boot strings. Instead God and God working through us and many other people are our path to success.
I come from a long legacy of bold, bright, beautiful, black, Christian women -- Linda, my mother, Mildred, my grandmother, Pearl, my great-grandmother and many others including Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson.
In eternity past God choose specific talents to give each and every one of us. God choose the singing gift for Marian. Marian has a strong, contralto voice able to climb more than 24 notes.
When she was six years old she joined her church choir. Marian's gift was so obvious that church members set up a trust fund to help pay for her musical training.
Marian worked her blessing. Marian realized her potential and discovered her unique individuality. She became a professional singer, singing all over the world and recording records that sold to millions.
Finding work and being prosperous were very hard. Many would not hire Marian because she is black. In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Marian perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., because Marian is black, and they had a white-performers-only policy. Eleanor Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's wife, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a human rights activist, resigned from the group in protest. Eleanor then arranged for Marian to sing in a bigger venue -- on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for an Easter morning concert. More than 75,000 came out for the concert that made Civil Rights history.
What Marian and Eleanor did is Christlike -- black and white working together for good. Romans 12:21 Amplified Bible says, "Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good."
Marian with the help of others overcame other obstacles of discrimination. Marian sang in eight languages. She was the first black person to sing a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Some people are in sin and do not want to embrace black people and other people of color in the mainstream of American life. With God on our side nothing is impossible. We shall overcome in all areas of life surrounding ourselves with God and Christians who live by 1 Peter 4:8 Amplified Bible which says, "Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]."
Please share on-line stories of people of color overcoming in Christ.
I come from a long legacy of bold, bright, beautiful, black, Christian women -- Linda, my mother, Mildred, my grandmother, Pearl, my great-grandmother and many others including Singer and Civil Rights Activist Marian Anderson.
In eternity past God choose specific talents to give each and every one of us. God choose the singing gift for Marian. Marian has a strong, contralto voice able to climb more than 24 notes.
When she was six years old she joined her church choir. Marian's gift was so obvious that church members set up a trust fund to help pay for her musical training.
Marian worked her blessing. Marian realized her potential and discovered her unique individuality. She became a professional singer, singing all over the world and recording records that sold to millions.
Finding work and being prosperous were very hard. Many would not hire Marian because she is black. In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Marian perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., because Marian is black, and they had a white-performers-only policy. Eleanor Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's wife, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a human rights activist, resigned from the group in protest. Eleanor then arranged for Marian to sing in a bigger venue -- on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for an Easter morning concert. More than 75,000 came out for the concert that made Civil Rights history.
What Marian and Eleanor did is Christlike -- black and white working together for good. Romans 12:21 Amplified Bible says, "Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good."
Marian with the help of others overcame other obstacles of discrimination. Marian sang in eight languages. She was the first black person to sing a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Some people are in sin and do not want to embrace black people and other people of color in the mainstream of American life. With God on our side nothing is impossible. We shall overcome in all areas of life surrounding ourselves with God and Christians who live by 1 Peter 4:8 Amplified Bible which says, "Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]."
Please share on-line stories of people of color overcoming in Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)