Too Busy To Care?

What do you see when you look at the photo above? I hope you see a contrast between Western Christians and Eastern Christians.

On Sunday April 19, 2015, ISIS released a video showing the mass execution of 30 Ethiopian Christians. 

Half were beheaded 

the others were shot execution style 

It was on Sunday morning at 6am, as my alarm woke me up so that I could get ready for church since I was singing with the worship team, that my insomniac husband told me the news. I quickly jumped onto Facebook to see if there was news about this. I jumped on Twitter. Yes indeed, it was true.

Perhaps it was too early in the morning for Pastors and churches in the U.S. (at least in California), to be aware of this tragedy. As first service began, I could not be as energetic and smiley on stage like usual. I just wanted to tell everyone what happened and join together as one body, mourning with family we have never met, who have lost their loved ones. 

I just kept thinking...."In the OT, people would tear their clothes, put on a sackcloth, and cry out to God."

While we sing praises and sermons  are preached suggesting a false hope that everything will be OK because God will not "allow more than we are able to bear," the truth is that suffering IS part of God's will in our lives. God does allow tragedies. His ways are not our ways. Yes, things will work out for our good according to Romans 8:28, but WHAT IS GOOD? What does GOD see as the definition of "good?" His "good" is not the same as what we would consider "good." To us, "GOOD" is equivalent to good health, wealth, happiness; basically for things to go our way.

I am curious as to how many congregations in the U.S. discussed the martydom of these Ethiopians. Or how about the 14 year old boy who was set on fire in Pakistan for his faith this past week? 

If the Bible tells us to mourn with those who mourn, why aren't we mourning as a whole? Why aren't churches setting a side a service specifically to discuss the harsh realities of persecution, with time of prayer and learning about what we as a body can do to help our brothers and sisters?

We are all so consumed with our own agendas and "visions." I'm not saying those things can't be done or that they should be sacrificed, but sticking to our plans sometimes forces us to sacrifice what God instructs us to do. Like Mary & Martha. 

 "Martha had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. 40 But Martha was busy with all the work to be done. She went in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work? Tell her to help me.”41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. 42 Only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the better thing, and it will never be taken away from her” (Luke 10:39-42)

Sometimes we just have to pause for a moment and seek His face and intercede for others.  Yes, we have our own problems. But we are ONE BODY. When will the West wake up? When will the West finally realize the foolishness of division and unite for the common cause of Christ? 

We cannot stop persecution from happening, Jesus said IT WOULD HAPPEN. But we can help those in the midst of war. We have ministries there. People need resources. If you and I can't physically go and care for refugees or smuggle Bibles and food, then we must financially support those who do go. 

If you can't afford it, I'm sure you could do fundraisers at church or on your own. I mean, have a garage/yard sale! As much as I hate to admit that money is needed, it is the truth. 

But just as important is the awareness that is needed. What mighty things can be done when the body of Christ decides to do in unity. But it seems like many don't take it seriously, don't care, or are too busy with other ministries.

Can we at the very least, remember them in prayer, on a weekly basis, Pastors??? 

For those who are interested in learning more about how you can help, the following organizations are legit. They advocate, provide aid, and provide education:

International Christian Concern

Open Doors USA

Voice of the Martyrs

Christian Solidarity WorldWide

Radical Truth

Victor Marx

Warning to American Citizens in Kuwait

Kuwait City, Kuwait
October 4, 2011

Emergency Message for U.S Citizens

Subject:       Possible Rally on Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Please circulate the following message without additions or omissions immediately to all U.S.  citizens within your area of responsibility.

An anti-corruption rally may take place in the early evening hours at Determination Square opposite the National Assembly on Wednesday, October 5 in downtown Kuwait City.  An increased police and security presence is expected in and around the capital.

Spontaneous and planned demonstrations take place in Kuwait from time to time in response to world events or local developments.  At times, even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence.  Do not let curiosity get the best of you; avoid the areas of demonstrations and exercise caution if within the vicinity of any large gatherings.  Please stay current with media coverage of local events, be aware of your surroundings, and practice personal security awareness at all times.

U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at the following website: https://travelregistration.state.gov. U.S. citizens without internet access may enroll directly at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate at their  destination.  By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency.  Updated information on travel and security may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States
and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.  For further information, please consult the Worldwide Caution and other consular information, including Country Specific Information, for specific countries.  These products and the latest international travel information for U.S. citizens are available on the Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet website at http://travel.state.gov.

The U.S. Embassy is located at Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa Street, Block 6, Plot 14, Bayan, Kuwait.  If you are a U.S. citizen in need of emergency assistance in Kuwait, you may reach the U.S. Embassy by calling +965-2259-1001 and requesting the duty officer.

U.S. citizens in Kuwait who would like to receive future Warden Messages from the Embassy directly by e-mail may sign up for this service by sending an e-mail to the following address: join-wardenmessagekuwait@mh.databack.com

This message may be accessed on the Embassy website, http://kuwait.usembassy.gov Please note that the Consular Section is closed for U.S. and most local holidays.  The current holiday schedule for 2011 is posted on http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/holidays.html.

Coming to America: Muslim Comic Superheroes!

Islam-Inspired Comic Superheroes, Lauded by Obama, Head to N.Y. Film Fest

By Tamara Walid - Oct 3, 2011 2:00 AM AT

Even U.S. President Barack Obama took notice of them. Now, New Yorkers may do, too, as the Arab world’s first superheroes make their screen debut at the New York Film Festival.

Naif Al-Mutawa yesterday presented “THE 99,” his series starring supernatural characters. His creations have also appeared as comics, alongside Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. They are based on the 99 attributes of Allah mentioned in the Koran, such as wisdom, generosity and tolerance.

Batina, which stands for the Hidden, is a Burqa-wearing character from Yemen, while Hazel-eyed Widad, or the Loving, has long lustrous brown hair and originates from the Philippines. The giant Jabbar, or the Powerful, is a native of Saudi Arabia and resembles the Hulk. His sneeze can bring down a house and his touch can shatter a brick. These are some of Al-Mutawa’s heroes on a mission to conquer evil.

“It was about creating positive role models for my kids that are based on our culture but are universal in nature,” Al- Mutawa says in an interview. “It doesn’t matter what religion you are, it doesn’t matter if you have a religion -- they are basic human values.”

The 40-year-old clinical psychologist from Kuwait says he came up with the idea in 2003 while in a London cab. It’s all about “secularizing religious content”, he says. Western heroes such as Batman and Superman are based on biblical archetypes, and he wanted to create the same from the Muslims’ holy book, he says.

Twin Towers

It was also an attempt to alter the global perception of Islam, following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York in 2001. The comics have made a “dent” in how the religion is perceived globally, he says.

“If you get bitten by a snake you become afraid of rope,” Al-Mutawa says. “Our message keeps getting tied to bombs and guns. My thinking was if I go back to the same place where the bad guys pulled their messages and in their place put tolerant multicultural messages, they just become bad guys with bad ideas and you delink them from the religion.”

In his April 2010 speech at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, Obama praised “THE 99” and its creator for spreading tolerance, saying the comic books were “most innovative” and “captured the imagination of so many young people.”

Prisoner Torture

Al-Mutawa, who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University, worked with former prisoners of war in Kuwait and survivors of political torture at in Bellevue Hospital in New York. Helping people who have been prosecuted because of their religious and political beliefs led him to the project.

“I heard too many stories of people growing up to idealize their leaders as heroes only to be tortured by them,” Al-Mutawa says in an interview in Dubai before travelling to New York.

A total of 26 half-hour episodes was created out of Al- Mutawa’s comics with the help of entertainment company Endemol, a writer in Hollywood, and production by a U.K. company and India’s Sanraa Media. The sequence of four TV series, which are being translated into various languages, is showing in New York.

Discovery Channel bought the rights for the series in the U.S., Cartoon Network in Asia andMBC in the Middle East.

Like all superheroes, there’s a big market for merchandise. Al-Mutawa is looking for the right partners to create a feature film and games. The first theme park based on the characters was developed in Kuwait and talks are continuing on a second park in an Arab Gulf country, he says, declining to be more specific.

Promoting the series, let alone making a feature film, will not be the easiest task for Al-Mutawa, who said he was accused of radicalizing kids and trying to spread shari’ah law through “THE 99.”

Wearing jeans and a black jacket, he speaks at an art gallery showing his TV shows before the festival. With a documentary film on the making of “THE 99” planned for release on Oct. 13 in the U.S., Al-Mutawa says he hopes people will realize “we are not the bad guys.”

Information: http://www.the99.org/, http://www.al-mutawa.com, http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2011.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tamara Walid in Abu Dhabi at twalid@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff in New York atmhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.


My question is...will the heroes be beheading any of the 'bad' guys as their prophet did?

Young Pakistani's Vow Revenge for Bin Laden's Death

Pakistan....oh Pakistan...what a twisted, violent, hopeless country. I feel sorry for Pakistan. Most Pakistanis are illiterate, so they get their zeal & dogmas from their religious leaders.

Osama Bin Laden was guilty of initiating attacks against people- against Americans. That is why America has been after him. Why would a 10yr old Pakistani boy vow revenge on America?

Because we killed their hero.

Let me first just say- Islam does not mean "peace" but "submission." I just needed to clarify that b/c many Muslims take the convenience of the interpretation to loosely translate that for itching ears. Being a Muslim means being submissive to God, although it seems like they are more submissive to the prophet Mohammed rather than Allah.

I challenge Muslims who read this post to seek out Allah for his truth. Ask Allah to reveal himself to you. God has said that if you seek him you will find him, when you search for God with all of your heart. Do not just believe what you are told by your Imam or what is customary- research it. Pray about it. The problem with people such as those in Pakistan is that they don't even know WHAT their own religion teaches. Most of them can't even READ to confirm what they are being taught is true. Is it a coincidence that most of the countries at the bottom of the world's literacy list are Muslim nations?

 SOURCE 1
 SOURCE 2

This is what a Pakistani himself says on illiteracy in Pakistan & Terrorism:

Terrorism is the worst form of illiteracy when people do not have sense to realize the importance of innocent lives which are lost in the terrorist activities. Some people consider poverty as one of the major causes of terrorism. If people are given enough education to cope up poverty, this might enable people becoming less hopeful and going for the bold steps such as getting involved in wrong or criminal activities. In Pakistan, government is making its best efforts to reduce the illiteracy rate as a result of which the standard of education in Pakistan is increasing day by day. However terrorism will take time to remove.

SOURCE

However, the article that I have re-posted talks about literate, middle-class, youngsters who pledge allegiance to Bin Laden's ideology. Are they doing their homework? They have zeal without knowledge. They want to be heroes...their ego inspires them to their demise.

For reasons such as this AND b/c of Pakistan's dishonesty, deceit, & just plain scandalousness- My opinion: CUT OFF FUNDING FOR PAKISTAN. What has our money done for that country but breed terrorism & support human injustices such as oppression to religious minorities?


From the Arab Times Online: Arab Times Online Article


Bin Laden's Young Neighbours Vow Revenge Over Death

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan, May 10, 2011 (AFP) -In a madrassa close to the house where Osama bin Laden lived and died, young Pakistani students are furious over the death of a terror mastermind they considered a religious hero.

Venting their anger over a US raid a week ago in which commandos killed bin Laden, reportedly in front of his family, at the villa that hid him from the world, metres (yards) from their school in Abbottabad they vow revenge.

"This war is not over yet. There are so many mujahedeen (fighters) who will continue Osama's fight and will defeat America," said Muhammad Tofail, a 15-year-old student at the biggest seminary in Bilal Town, the suburb that proved to have been bin Laden's home for up to five years.

"There are many Osamas in the Muslim world and the US can't defeat his ideology," he said.

The West fears such madrassas preach a zeal that encourages extremism and builds support for Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan, particularly in the tribal northwest where training grounds groom future Islamist fighters.

Islamic seminaries are an alternative to mainstream education for several million children in Pakistan, where only two percent of GDP goes on public schooling and where 31 percent of men and 41 percent of women aged 15 to 24 are illiterate.

"I will myself become Osama and revenge his death one day," said 10-year-old Abbas Khan, sitting in the playground outside the seminary and metres away from the Al-Qaeda chief's hideout.

The young views reflect part of an ideological battle raging in Pakistan -- a country at war with homegrown militants blamed for bomb attacks that have killed more than 4,200 people nationwide in the past four years.

But the perceived violation of sovereignty with last week's operation has united many in anger against the United States, and worsened the widespread perception that the government in Islamabad is servile to its superpower ally.

Anti-American sentiment is already rampant over of an ongoing covert US drone campaign that has killed hundreds in the northwest region.

Billions of dollars in military and civilian aid given by the United States to Pakistan fails to assuage mass mistrust of the Western power.

Parents in the garrison city of Abbottabad say they fear bin Laden's death on their soil will only worsen calls for revenge on the West.

"Osama bin Laden has developed a psyche. He has developed a mindset and younger generations are affected," said Farzana Anis, who took her daughter to see bin Laden's hideout, speaking in English.

"If there's no social uplift in Pakistan, if there's no education, there is no healthcare, there's no alleviation of poverty, then this mindset can take place... With the killing of Osama bin Laden, the problem has aggravated."

Children playing cricket in the street by the heavily guarded compound do not conform to the stereotype of uneducated religious youth.

But despite hailing from middle-class families and attending good schools in the area, this week they are sharing in the anger at America and joining calls for revenge.

"We will avenge Osama bin Laden's death. We are going to do jihad and we will win. We will beat the Americans," said one cricket-playing boy, Bilal Umar.

His friend Abbas Khan concurred. "I will grow up to be like Osama," he said.

Come quickly Lord Jesus. Save the lost, give sight to the blind. Reveal yourself to them in Jesus' name.