Sweet Submissive Spirit?

God’s Wisdom for Daily Living Proverbs Day 305 (KJV): Proverbs 27:11 (KJV): My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. Proverbs 27:11 (AMP): My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me (as having failed in my parental duty).

Thoughts for the Day This verse from Proverbs is a father's charge to his son to be wise, so that there will be no charges against him, as to how he raised his son. In an hour when so many children are rising up in rebellion against their parents, this would still be the same charge to young people today. Some of the younger generation are so full of rebellion that many parents are suffering the reproach of their children's actions. One cause of rebellion in children is because the home is not in Biblical order. One of the main causes for this rebellion is an evil spiritual force of female domination. In the following verses, the divine order for families is stated: 1 Corinthians 11:3: But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Ephesians 5:22-25: 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Ephesians 6:1-4: 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. 4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The husband is the head, then the wife is second in command, with the children in obedience to them. When the woman seeks to usurp this authority and rule the home, havoc results and the home is left wide open for Satanic attack. Fathers who do not take their godly position in the home are also at fault. Children are told to honor and respect their parents, not rise up against them. Isaiah 3:12: As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. In our land today, children are rebellious, causing strife in the homes, and women have become bossy and demanding. It is no wonder homes are falling apart. This type of spirit in a woman is a "Jezebel spirit." Just as Jezebel ruled her husband, King Ahab, in the Bible (I Kings 21:25), many women today are guilty of the same sin. This domineering and ruling spirit is not just found in women alone, for we see it in men, too, when they use tyrannical means to rule their homes. The Lord would have our homes be examples of love, and parental authority should be exercised in love. When someone has a "Jezebel spirit," it subtly manipulates the lives of everyone around them. Should we be guilty of this domineering spirit, let us ask the Lord to deliver us and create within us a sweet submissive spirit that is pleasing to the Lord. We will then be willing to listen to our husbands, knowing that the logic God gave man is for the protection of the woman. Of course, there are limits to submission, as it should always be "as unto the Lord." We must first submit to God, and then the problems involving submission to others will be resolved by Him. Some results that can occur when women are not in a right relationship with men are divorce, rebellious children, emotional problems and sexual problems.

Prayer for the Day Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for creating me as a woman. May I function in the role You created me for and give me a submissive spirit, not only toward my mate, but also toward each member in the body of Christ. Let me serve, and not expect to be served. Create within me a lamb-like spirit, even as Christ our Lord had. Give me wisdom in the role of a parent, so that my children might rise up and call me blessed. May I love my mate and my children with Your love. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Death Threat for opposing?

Ee Wei, in response to the earlier post, kindly highlighted this case to me. Interesting times to be living in Europe! Praying that they will repent and seek after the living God. If not, more new situations will develop.

Opponent of 'mega-mosque' receives chilling death threat on YouTube

Last updated at 16:17pm on 6th November 2007

Target: Alan Craig with his wife Sally

A leading opponent of plans to build Europe's largest mosque in east London has seen a chilling "obituary" for him posted on the internet.

The film on video-sharing website YouTube is entitled In memory of Councillor Alan Craig and contains pictures of him with his wife and two young daughters.

It was apparently posted in retaliation for his opposition to the mosque.

Mr Craig has now contacted police in fear of his family's safety and demanded that the video be taken down.

Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat wants to open the 12,000-capacity "mega-mosque" in Newham near the main 2012 Olympic site.

The FBI has described the group as "a recruiting ground" for al Qaeda, which it denies.

Shoebomber Richard Reid and 7/7 bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were members.

Mr Craig, 61, a member of the Christian Peoples Alliance on Newham council, has led a local campaign against the mosque which is planned for the site at Abbey Mills next to West Ham Tube station.

Scroll down for more...

Chilling: The YouTube video shows Alan Craig with his family

Obituary: The YouTube posting that threatens Alan Craig

The businessman today said he would be seeking advice about whether his 40-year-old wife, Sally, and daughters were safe.

He said: "Targeting me is one thing. But to use my wife and children is outrageous. This video obituary is either a threat or a very sick joke.

"Some people will look at this as an open invitation to take me out because I am opposing the mosque. That is not the way to operate in a democracy."

The video opens with its title and the words "To God we will all return" before showing a series of photos of the councillor, his family and political allies set to Elvis Presley singing You Were Always On My Mind.

The two-minute video ends with the message "The mosque will be built in time for the 2012 Olympic Games."

Scroll down for more...

Opposition: Alan Craig doesn't want Europe's biggest mosque to be built

The video was posted by abdullah1425 whose page on YouTube claims he is 23-year-old Muhammad from Stevenage. It has links to material relating to Tablighi Jamaat.

In one comment to another user posted on the site he said: "Jihad starts from the moment your mother gave birth to you."

There is a link directly to the page from the mosque's official website but a spokesman promised to take it down if anything "inappropriate" was found.

He added: "We are not responsible for the content of external websites. But we condemn totally anyone who incites violence."

Plans for the 18-acre-complex, which is expected to include a school for 500 boys, have yet to be submitted to Newham council for approval.

Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales said he did not agree with Mr Craig's views but that he was entitled to express them.

He added: "If this has been reported to the police then it is right that they should investigate it."

Christian and Muslim perspectives on being human

The Building Bridges Seminar

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams in collaboration with the

Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore;

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Religion Research Cluster, National University of Singapore;

& University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore

invite you to a series of public lectures on

Humanity in Context: Christian and Muslim perspectives on being human

Speakers:

Professor Azizan Baharuddin, Department of Science and Technology Studies and Director of the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya;

Professor Vincent Cornell, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia;

The Ven. Michael Ipgrave, Archdeacon of Southwark, London;

Professor Michael Northcott, Associate Rector at St James, Leith, and Canon Theologian of Liverpool Cathedral;

Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies and Public Understanding at Glasgow University in Scotland;

Dr. Ng Kam Weng, Director of the Kairos Research Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Venue: Civil Service College Auditorium, 31 North Buona Vista Road. Singapore 275983. Click here for map.

Date: 4th December 2007 (Tuesday)

Time: 8.30 am – 4.30 pm

* Refreshments and lunch will be provided.

Theme of the lectures:

0915-1045: First lecture: “Being human - religious perspectives”

Dr Ng Kam Weng and Professor Mona Siddiqui

1115-1300: Second lecture: “Living with difference”

The Ven. Michael Ipgrave and Professor Vincent Cornell

1430-1615: Third lecture: “Guardians of the Environment”

Professor Michael Northcott and Professor Azizan Baharuddin

Kindly RSVP by 29^th November to Rodney Sebastian at <fassreligion@nus.edu.sg>.

Speak against work discrimination

BA worker, magistrate ask churches to speak against work discrimination

Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 12:20 (GMT)

The British Airways employee disciplined for wearing a silver cross necklace and the Sheffield magistrate who resigned after refusing to place youngsters with same-sex adopting couples called on church leaders last weekend to speak more forcibly against work discrimination.

Nadia Eweida, 56, and 63-year-old Andrew McClintock - whose cases are before the courts - made their appeal at the annual conference of the Christian Peoples Alliance party in London.

With her claim for religious discrimination still before an Employment Tribunal in Reading, Ms Eweida said she would have been dismissed by BA if it were not for the press attention.

Last year she was sent home with no pay after BA said a silver cross the size of a 5p coin contravened internal uniform policy and might offend other British Airways employees.



Despite changing its policy after a national outcry, the company held back Ms Eweida's pay and threatened to send a huge legal bill for costs and damages. BA says its stance is right in law, but it had only changed its internal policy as a result of negative publicity.

Ms Eweida said that now her case was not in the headlines, BA had chosen not to settle her back-pay and had sought to gag her.

She urged church leaders to speak up so other Christians didn't face work-place discrimination: "I have to resort to law to establish Christian liberty in the workplace, but it is vital that church leaders continue to make their voice heard.

"British Airways bends backwards to be politically correct towards other religions. They just forgot there are also Christians working for them. I'm an Anglo-Egyptian Christian and in Egypt, where Christians experience persecution, to wear the Cross is second nature and widely respected.

"BA is sensitive to Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and those of other faith groups and all I want is the same right to wear the symbol of my faith. "

In his remarks, Andrew McClintock said his case was going to the Court of Appeal and that it was vital for church leaders to highlight that where possible, it was in the interest of a child facing adoption that they should be placed with a mother and father.



He explained to CPA delegates that he had to resign as a JP in the family courts as it would be wrong in conscience to place youngsters with same-sex couples.

"Placing children with gay couples is an experiment in social science because it is not known what kind of impact it may have on them. By legalising homosexual adoption, Labour are not making paramount the best interest of the child," he said.

Mr McClintock has resigned from his role as a JP in the family courts. His stance and that of Ms Eweida won wide applause from party members and the backing of CPA Leader, Cllr Alan Craig, who is an opposition leader on Newham Borough Council.

Saddleback hopes to see 10,000 more lives changed and baptized.

Rick Warren Launches New Plan to Multiply Impact Worldwide

Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in the nation, has launched a new global vision to multiply impact on the local and international levels.

Wed, Oct. 17, 2007 Posted: 14:59:42 PM EST

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Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in the nation, has launched a new global vision to multiply impact on the local and international levels.

Within the next three years, megachurch in the Lake Forest, Calif., aims to launch nine new off-site campuses in addition to its San Clemente campus, which meets every weekend at the local high school, and step up its global P.E.A.C.E. plan. By 2010, Saddleback hopes to see 10,000 more lives changed and baptized.

"One of the most important words in the Christian life [is] 'go,'" said Rick Warren, founding and senior pastor of Saddleback, during his "Multiplying Our Impact" sermon series last month. "The Christian life is a journey and over and over again God says you are to go. We are not a passive faith; you are a 'going' faith."

Thousands of Saddleback congregants and staff have been on the move to open a campus in Corona and Irvine late this year and early 2008. Two pastors have already been picked out of the Saddleback staff to lead the sites, which will have their own live worship music and video feed from the main Lake Forest campus. The campuses will host smaller congregations of 400 to 600 people.

Matt McGill, pastor of regional campuses for Saddleback, calls the expansion "decentralized congregations" rather than the popular term "multi-site" which more churches are venturing into.

"We clearly are looking at this strategy as one church meeting in decentralized locations to be most effective in reaching those communities for Christ," said McGill.

"Our shift to a regional approach is not about making worship more convenient for our members or emptying seats from our Lake Forest campus," he noted. "We’re making this shift to empower our people for evangelism and to reach new communities in the name of Jesus."

The expansion, called the 10x10 vision, also includes 10,000 small groups in homes, work, school and on the Internet and 1 million personal invitations given out by church members.

Answering critics of the multi-site approach, which has become the next big thing for effective outreach, McGill said there will always be critics of any new methodology but methodologies must always change in order to be as effective as possible in the generation we live, he commented. But the message in the church, meanwhile, never changes.

"What we have seen is that many churches that see the lostness that surrounds them are willing to embrace new modern methodologies to communicate the unchanging message of the hope of Jesus," said McGill.

How much technology is too much?

McGill has three tests to answer the popularly asked question.

First, the worship test. "When we worship technology – love it and depend on it more than God – we have gone too far."

Second, the fruitfulness test. "Are we seeing changed lives? If there is no life change, and we still stick to the technology, then we have gone too far."

Third, the test of conviction. "Any choice to use technology is a decision that should come from a clear heart, from a place where you believe God is leading."

Global 10x10

Nearly four years after launching a sweeping plan to fight the global ills of the world, Warren introduced P.E.A.C.E. 2.0 – the next phase of the PEACE plan. Some 7,400 Saddleback members have volunteered to take overseas PEACE trips to tackle the five "global goliaths" that are affecting billions of people – spiritual emptiness, self serving leadership, poverty, pandemic diseases, and lack of education and illiteracy. The initiative's main emphasis has been the local church and mobilizing churches worldwide to Plant churches, Equip leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick, and Educate the next generation "the way Jesus did," as Warren says.

Now, Warren is building a PEACE Coalition of partners that includes the government and NGOs and businesses in addition to churches. The "P" in PEACE 2.0 now stands for "Promote reconciliation" while churches will continue to focus on planting churches.

By December 2010, Saddleback hopes to have 10,000 more people go on global PEACE trips; 10,000 people per year involved in local PEACE projects; and 10,000 churches in the PEACE Coalition.

Why? Because it's the responsibility of the church to do it, said Warren. And Saddleback wants to be part of God's plan of exposing every tribe, language, people and nation to the gospel.

Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter

5 Kinds of Christians

Understanding the disparity of those who call themselves Christian in America.

A new national survey co-sponsored by Leadership. Fall 2007, Vol. XXVIII
Reported by Helen Lee

Active Christians 19%

• Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
• Committed churchgoers
• Bible readers
• Accept leadership positions
• Invest in personal faith development through the church
• Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.

Professing Christians 20%

• Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
• Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus
• Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions
• Less involved in church, both attending and serving
• Less commitment to Bible reading or sharing faith

Liturgical Christians 16%

• Predominantly Catholic and Lutheran
• Regular churchgoers
• High level of spiritual activity, mostly expressed by serving in church and/or community
• Recognize authority of the church

Private Christians 24%

• Largest and youngest segment
• Believe in God and doing good things
• Own a Bible, but don't read it
• Spiritual interest, but not within church context
• Only about a third attend church at all
• Almost none are church leaders
• 
  

Cultural Christians 21%

• Little outward religious behavior or attitudes
• God aware, but little personal involvement with God
• Do not view Jesus as essential to salvation
• Affirm many ways to God
• Favor universality theology