Sandy Hook Kids Raid Heaven

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38

when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.

Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.

"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"This is heaven." declared a small boy. "We're spending Christmas at God's house."

When what to their wondering eyes did appear,

but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.

Then, He opened His arms and He called them by name.

And, in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring

those children all flew into the arms of their King

and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,

one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.

And, as if He could read all the questions she had

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."

Then, He looked down on earth, the world far below

He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe

then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

"May this country be delivered from the hands of fools"

"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"

Then, He and the children stood up without a sound.

"Come now my children, let me show you around."

Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.

All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

And, I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA — with Gennie Hunter Handmaker, Natasha Rinaldo, Cory Walker and Jessica Williams.

Beyond the Words (Slice)

"I would like to begin by telling a story about an event that took place some years ago when I was beginning my studies in apologetics, an event that has had a major impact on my approach to the ministry to this day. I had a neighbor who was deeply committed to a version of the New Age movement. He and I had many conversations about God in the course of several months. He was a highly educated man with a couple of PhDs to his name, and so he provided me with an opportunity to test my training. But the training I was receiving in apologetics was good, and I soon realized that I could not only answer the questions he was asking about my faith in God, I could also poke holes in his worldview in a way that forced him to check books out of the local library to try and put his worldview back together. And I was feeling very good about myself. I was actually getting get it!

Finally I decided to challenge him to consider giving his life to Christ. His reaction surprised me; he did not seem to care at all about what I was telling him. So I said to him, can you please explain to me what is going on? You don’t seem to care about what I am telling you. His answer was even more baffling to me. He said to me, “Listening to you asking me to become a Christian is like listening to a naturalist asking me to become a naturalist.”

I said to him, “What in the world do you mean. I just asked you to consider giving your life to the God who created you, and you are accusing me of being an atheist? What do you mean?”

He said to me, “All you Christians have are statements and creeds. You think that if people accept those statements and creeds, everything will be okay. When I pray, I get in touch with powers that you know nothing about.”

And that was one of the most convicting things anyone has ever said to me. Because what this man was saying to me was essentially this: “Yes, you can say a lot of very convincing things about your faith, but does your faith really rise beyond well-argued propositions?”

In his book, Beyond Opinion, Ravi Zacharias says that the greatest obstacle to the reception of the Gospel is not its inability to provide answers; it is the failure on the part of Christians to live it out. J. I. Packer writes similarly in his classic book, entitled, Knowing God: “From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that -ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture… it is tragic that…so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being—that is, learning to know God in Christ.”(1)

Whatever your position of faith, it is helpful to occasionally step back and ask a similar question of priority. Whatever your calling in life, what is the ultimate goal of all that you do?

The Bible addresses this question in many places, in both the Old and New Testaments, but none so much as in the person of Christ himself. If there is a message we hear loudest in his coming to earth it is this. The primary call of God is to know God, to be near God, not to serve God or to argue on God’s behalf. Apologetics is important, but it is only a means to an end, and the end is knowing God. Even the scriptures were given to us a means to that end. For when all is said and done, when the dust settles, it is the eternally incarnate Son of God who lies behind that hauntingly inescapable question, “Who do you say that I am?” It is a question we must answer, with our words and with our lives. There is no neutral ground.

But how wonderful it is when the curtain is pulled back, and we see God for Who God truly is, and we are able to say with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God?”

No, we don’t have only statements and creeds. We stand on holy ground, before a holy God, and it is this God that we present to the world."

--J.M. Njoroge, member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 279.

The Repercussion to the Sins Of Westboro

Westboro Baptist Church is a body of mislead believers. Instead of sowing God's love, they brew hate. They protest seemingly righteous causes, but in the wrong manner and with the wrong motivation. In recent events, they have seen the shooting in Connecticut as an act of God's judgment and have set out in protest against the God-fearing vigils for the innocent. Instead of sharing compassion with those who have lost loved ones, they have chosen a plan to pour salt on their wounds. Needless to say, this congregation has reaped what it sows: HATE. The vigilante group Anonymous has chosen to stand against this gathering who worship hate rather than their Lord.

I'm not saying that this is the right way to stop the church. In fact, these two groups are two sides of the same coin. But, it is interesting to see someone stand up against the dastardly Westboros.

"Hello, Westboro Baptist Church.

Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Anonymous.

As you may not have acknowledged our existence, we, on the other hand, have recognized yours. We have seen your depraved methods of disseminating your message of hate throughout The United States of America. We have witnessed you defaming the memories of those who sacrificed themselves for the security of our nation, disrupting the peace of the educational environment within high schools and universities, breeding hatred within the fragile minds of your own next of kin, desecrating the name of God by protesting in the proximity of churches and synagogues, and mangling the biblical text to conform in accordance with your malevolent cause.

Your pseudo-faith is abhorrent, and your leaders, repugnant. Your impact and cause is hazardous to the lives of millions and you fail to see the wrong in promoting the deaths of innocent people. You are self-appointed servants of God who rewrite the words of His sacred scripture to adhere to your prejudice. Your hatred supersedes your faith, and you use faith to promote your hatred.

Since your one-dimensional thought protocol will conform not to any modern logic, we will not debate, argue, or attempt to reason with you. Instead, we have unanimously deemed your organization to be harmful to the population of The United States of America, and have therefore decided to execute an agenda of action which will progressively dismantle your institution of deceitful pretext and extreme bias, and cease when your zealotry runs dry. We recognize you as serious opponents, and do not expect our campaign to terminate in a short period of time. Attrition is our weapon, and we will waste no time, money, effort, and enjoyment, in tearing your resolve into pieces, as with exposing the incongruity of your distorted faith.

Anonymous possesses a plethora of information within our network about the many divisions of Christianity and numerous other religious doctrines. Many of us are versed in the biblical text, and we can identify each and every of your violations of scripture. You abuse the Holy Bible which you do not fully comprehend and know not of the thousands of authors to impose upon other people when you can simply coalesce with your loved ones and live in the manner you deem plausible. You engage in reciprocal fornication with another man and preach adultery as a sin. You, Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper violated Deuteronomy 5:18. As a result, your son Sam is the living, breathing proof of your act of simple loneliness. Simply put, it takes not a genius to realize an arrogant woman's loose moral string, and its predilection to progressively wither and fray.

From the time you have received this message, our attack protocol has past been executed and your downfall is underway. Do not attempt to delude yourselves into thinking you can escape our reach, for we are everywhere, and all-seeing, in the same sense as God. We are a body of individuals who fight for a purpose higher than self, and seek to bring the malevolent intent of the malefactors to light.

We will not allow you to corrupt the minds of America with your seeds of hatred. We will not allow you to inspire aggression to the social factions which you deem inferior. We will render you obsolete. We will destroy you. We are coming.

Everyone is equal.

We are Anonymous.

We are legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.

Expect us."

Another Ravi Letter

This letter comes at the end of a trip that has taken me to the Middle East and India in the span of five weeks. Most recently I spoke in four cities in India, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi. The event in Mumbai was to a largely secular audience of politicians and several from the film and entertainment world. The other cities drew packed audiences and provided opportunities to present the message of Christmas.

The first part of my travels took me to Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. It was a wonderful experience. Your prayers were answered as God gave me the wisdom and discernment necessary to say enough but not too much. We continue to pray and believe that God will reward the faith of those who prayed and the honesty of the Sheikh who was willing to extend the invitation. They were very gracious to us and we will believe and look forward to the next opportunity God gives us to continue to build on what has been done. Thank you for praying.

As we come to the end of the year, we ask for your continued support. We are looking forward to several key meetings in the upcoming year. It is your generous giving and your faithful praying that carries us to such unique settings. You might want to share this email with some friends; the more fellow believers that God impresses to join us in moving forward in this task, the deeper the impact we can make. As the Lord leads you to your year-end giving, I pray that this ministry will be on your heart. Thank you, dear friends, for lightening our load.

May our Lord bless you this Christmas season and let us look forward together to the next year and celebrate what God has done.

With Gratitude,


Ravi

JUST THINKING MAGAZINEThe latest edition of Just Thinking Magazine, Volume 21.1, is now available online.

Learning To Think Critically – Ravi Zacharias and Danielle DuRant

The Journey of Sheep – I'Ching Thomas

Complete To Complete – Cameron McAllister

If Only - Jill Carattini

Think Again – Ravi Zacharias

Click on an article to read or download the PDF.

MORE>>>

RAVI AT UCLAOn January 16, 2013, Ravi Zacharias and Michael Ramsden will be speaking at an open forum in partnership with the Veritas Forum on “Is Tolerance Intolerant? Pursuing the Climate of Acceptance and Inclusion.” Ravi will give a presentation for 45 minutes followed by a Q&A session where he will be joined by Michael.

MORE>>>


AN IDEA SPREADSAn award-wining piece on how RZIM’s A Slice of Infinityimpacts the world.

Subscribe to A Slice of Infinity at www.rzim.org.

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Here's another letter from Ravi!!

And, even more Ravi (Answering Life's toughest questions)!!!

Identity | Eyes Wide Open

Dear faithful reader and fellow sojourner on life’s wild ride into the light:

When I think back on my life, I see the many times that I’ve forgotten, not only who I am, but why I’m alive, what truly fulfils me. What does not. Like the characters in my new novel, Eyes Wide Open, every time I forget my true identity, I suffer. I cry out for love in a world that seems, in that moment, to have gone black.

I’ve gone through some dark times searching for that love, and I’ve written some dark novels, because I write to understand life, both as it is and how it might be. But I’ve seen much more light in my life lately.

In truth, I’m no different than any other person with a deep faith in a loving God. I’m the same as you. Which is why you too will identify, on some level, with characters like Christy and Austin in Eyes Wide Open, who, despite that faith, suffer still.

There are times when the challenges of living in this world feel like more than you can bear. When nights all alone in your bedroom seem to turn your heart into a stone. When the mirror tells you that you’re not good enough; when the words of even the most well-meaning say you never will be....

[But, in reality] You're an Outlaw—one who’s been rescued out of the law of sin and death and made whole, now, as you are, a new creature in Christ. You just forget it, all too often, like me.

It was with this deep awareness that I began penning The Outlaw Chronicles...

This the beginning of a new era for me. I’m calling it Outlaw. It’s more than just books—you’ll see that as well. 2013 and 2014 are going to be one wild ride.

But enough of that for now. Take the wild ride from the mind of madness into the heart of mystery and love with me—the world is brimming with beauty and power here. As are you. See who you are. Be Outlaw. Live with Eyes Wide Open.

It all begins with Identity.

For my readers, because I’m really just another version of you;



Ted Dekker

What is Eyes Wide Open?

Eyes Wide Open is one full story delivered in 4 books in the tradition of The Circle (Black, Red, White, Green), only shorter, so that all 4 books fit into one novel. A fast paced, deeply spiritual, train wreck of a story (in the best possible way) with eye-opening themes. Or think of it like an episodic TV Series. 4 episodes or books that make a full season—a novel called Eyes Wide Open.




Think of the first book or episode, Identity, as the pilot. You get it free on December 28th. Make sense? Yes, we’re unabashedly hooking you with that first episode, knowing you will take the full ride like many of you did with The Circle—it’s really that good, you’ll see. But you can judge for yourself with no obligation. Identity is free. No strings attached.

Wanna trip? The ride starts in 2 weeks!

Download the free book here!!!

*** Here's another post about this book!!

Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity | The Creed of Athanasius

Here is the Athanasian Creed as translated in the Lutheran Confessions:

Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.

Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.

And the catholic faith is this,

that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.

For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another.

But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit:

the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated;

the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite;

the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal.

And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal, just as there are not three Uncreated or three Infinites, but one Uncreated and one Infinite.

In the same way, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet there are not three Almighties but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God.

So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord; and yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord.

Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so also are we prohibited by the catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords.

The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by anyone.

The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the Father alone.

The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding.

Thus, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another; the whole three persons are coeternal whith each other and coequal so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped.

Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.

But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, it is the right faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man.

He is God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages; and He is man, born from the substance of His mother in this age; perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father with respect to His divinity, less than the Father with respect to His humanity.

Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ: one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flish but by the assumption of the humanity into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ, who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again on the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father from whence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds.

And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.

Ozymandias (Watchmen) | BROKEN

Here is an exert from Jonathan Fisks's BROKEN, pages 112-115, 138, 143:

“Ozymandias” (1818) is a poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the husband of the woman who authored Frankenstein.... It’s a short poem, as precise as it is beautiful. It goes a little something like this:

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the dessert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things. . . . 

And on the pedestal these words appear:

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The stones and level sands stretch far away.” 

Can you see it? There is a peddler with his carts and mules wandering without direction through endless, deserted sands. The scalding gusts blow at the scarf draped around his head and loosens his cloak so it billows behind him. But then all stops. He stands alone, silent, in a holy grotto, some mystic, pagan shrine seemingly undisturbed by the fouling winds. But it has been disturbed. Not even this sanctuary has hidden itself from time.

At its center is less than half a man, his stone knees and thighs pockmarked by long and ceaseless weathering. His torso has fallen, but who can say where? Perhaps it was hauled away by another peddler like himself, thinking to make a profit. Beside the broken monument lies the head, with one forsaken hand.

“What is this strange, abandoned relic?” the merchant asks himself, edging closer to wipe the residue of dust from its faded base. There, in strange Egyptian runes (which, of course, he has studied) he reads the mighty legacy: “Thou gazest on Ozymandias! Pharaoh of pharaohs and Emperor of All! Tremble at me, at my magnificence, and at all I have created. Be struck with awe at my supremacy. Bow even at my memory, for none has risen like me, and none shall again!”

That’s it. All else is wasteland, sand, and dune. The only striking is the scalding of the sun, and the only trembling is the chuckle of laughter bubbling in the merchant’s belly at the boast now turned by a decapitated stone scowl into the most comically ferocious of jokes. This Pharaoh of pharaohs, whomever he was, was a very unhappy looking sort!

“Poor chap,” the peddler mutters. “With breath alone I am so much more than you.”

As a young man struggling against the destructive storms and passions of the bizarre American experience, the words of the poem blew me away. Everything came rocketing home, congealing into one epic revelation of my own vanity breaking against the cliffs of futility. All my victories and all my failures stood as immortally irrelevant as a statue in the middle of the Sahara. A man doesn’t need to wait for the Day of Judgment to learn the true value of mortality. We are all Ozymandiases. Not only do we all have the same end, but more important, we all also have the same terribly mistaken habit of thinking that by our efforts we can make the end to be something better. We think if we can only live, breathe, eat, drink, and work long enough and hard enough, then eventually we’ll get everything to the place where what we have done will really, truly, actually matter.

Fame. Glory. Meaning. Who can blame us? Everything about this life looks as if it really does matter, as if our efforts on this planet should amount to something. Sure, life has some bumps, but isn’t it obvious that with a little elbow grease we can smooth those out? There isn’t one of us who doesn’t need to eat three square meals a day, but who is going to argue if we find ways to make those meals taste better? We each need a little sleep, and we can’t do it while standing, working, or keeping watch. So who wouldn’t want a softer bed, a more stable lock for the door, or some way to cheaply and easily heat the home in winter or cool it in summer? What’s wrong with trying to make the best we can of this material world?

Nothing. There is nothing inherently evil about a little filet mignon, an iPod, or a car new off the lot. But, there is something terribly, horribly wrong with all of them because sooner or later (and more often sooner) they’re all going to rot, rust, get digested, get excreted, burn out, go out of fashion, and/or fall apart. Tables and chairs, pots and pans, shirts and shoes, everything that is anything in the world has the same cursed predicament of looking gorgeous and seeming as if it might just last forever, but never proving to be anything more than fading dust in reality. This goes not only for all the “stuff” we spend our lives trying so hard to make and own and keep and fix. Worse. Against all our incessant hopes, dreams, and lies, this goes for you and me too. Even if Ozymandias did really live and achieve the consummate height of all the demigod pharaohs put together, it still amounted to a silly attempt to cut down the largest tree in the forest with . . . with . . . a herring.

... Against this sandy land where storms will come and blow, authentic Christianity stands firm as a house built on bedrock. This world and all its decay, rot, and anti-prosperity cannot touch it because it cannot touch Jesus. Jesus Christ is risen, and He is the treasure kept in heaven for you. This Good News of the Gospel is the promise that God does not expect you to find abundance (or even happiness) in this dying world. Christian contentment is knowing that both to be brought low and to abound are godly for the sake of Christ, for the sake of His cross, and for the sake of His atoning blood. Both to face hunger and to face plenty will harm the body eventually, but neither of them can touch the soul kept safe in Christ. Christianity has never budged from this truth because Christianity is not about this world....

No matter how big you build your barns, you can only eat your bread today. The secret of Christian contentment is that tomorrow we do not eat here at all. Tomorrow we dine in paradise. Imagine all the personal torment that might have been spared Ozymandias if he had believed that. He could have still ruled the world, and he could have still built a statue. But there’s a good chance he would have learned not to sneer, not because he’d found Prosperity, but because he’d become content to believe that you cannot find God in this world. In this world, Jesus sends His Word to find you.

(End quote)

I know that the Ozymandias that Fisk is talking about and the Ozymandias from Watchmen are technically two different people. But, in a way they both lived the same life, building up to dreams of grandeur and ending up empty.

For more on BROKEN, click here. You can buy the book here.

For more on Watchmen (especially Ozy's reign and downfall), click here.

For more on "Before Watchmen," click here. 

This has been part of the Watchmen Series.