Testimony….

Joseph Kim finally escaped to China. He writes: "For a few weeks, I was barely able to beg enough to survive. Then an elderly Chinese Korean woman approached me. 'I am so sorry—there is nothing I can offer,' she said. 'But you should go to a church.' She told me to look for a building with a cross…. On the wall were written these words: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest….  （The Pastor's wife) looked so similar to all those who had refused to give me leftover rice, yet she was different…. In China, hosting a North Korean refugee is illegal, and this church had already sheltered me for more than two weeks." How I Escaped from North Korea | Christianity Today

Serving the Japanese businessman….

Japan's curious passion for the business novel - BBC News 

"When Japanese people want a really good read they may not pick a spy thriller, a sci-fi fantasy or a throbbing romance - they may choose a novel about the world of business, with a besuited middle manager as its hero. Business novels now routinely feature in bestseller lists, and have even made the transition from the printed page to chart-topping TV drama." 

"The Japanese business novel is a microcosm of all the anxieties and questions that Japanese people have." Marika Nagai, Temple University

"The young generation wants to become businessmen, rather than salarymen. They realise the importance of using their initiative and it looks as though they are increasing in number. But there is one issue - the bosses don't give them the power. So the older generation is blocking those with potential to become businessmen." Jin Mayama, Novelist 

How do we address these 'anxieties and questions' into our ministry and messages? Shouldn't we continue to work with businessmen through prayer sessions and special events? Shouldn't we include in our messages how the gospel relates to work too?

Jesus Christ said, "Be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16b

"Speaking the truth in love"

After the years of animosity between the Jews and Christians, this is a step toward reconciliation. Orthodox Rabbis Issue Groundbreaking Declaration Affirming ‘Partnership’ With Christianity The Lord knows how I love the Jewish people. And maybe this can be a step toward setting aside our ugly history. I do pray that the Lord would "pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. That they will look on Him, the one they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son." (Zechariah 12:10)  And then in the Lord's time, "all Israel will be saved. As it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.'" (Romans 11:26)


Here is a balanced article on the Wheaton tiff. Larycia Hawkins had said, "And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God." Yet is this not offensive to most Muslims who do deny the Trinity? (Note: In Defense of Wheaton College, What Arab Christians Think) Shouldn't we be affirming clarity as well as compassion? We need to be "speaking the truth (yet) in love," Ephesians 4:15b. 

Celebration of violence!?

"Falwell speaks for the largest Christian university in the United States, and publicly calls for death to thunderous applause. Even if we allow for the distinctly unlikely possibility that Falwell or one of his students would ever have the opportunity to shoot and kill radicalized Islamic terrorists, ought the response really be one of—there's really no other way to put it—celebration?" Tyler Huckabee 

Read about Why a Liberty Student Didn’t Cheer for Jerry Falwell Jr. call to carry a 'sword' | Her.meneutics | ChristianityToday.com 

"We can work to counter our cultural celebration of violence and division and replace it with the hope of the gospel." Moriah Wierschem

"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:44-45 

Why we, Wheaton College students, are condemning Jerry Falwell Jr.’s remarks on guns and Muslims - The Washington Post

Another view: Commentary: Whom would Jesus shoot -- and why? | The Salt Lake Tribune

When Falwell encourages his students at Liberty to pack a gun, isn't he encouraging vigilantism? He's getting awful close. It seems to me that he is being more American than he's being a Christian.

Enchanted

”We live within a story far more enchanted than any of us dare imagine.”  Tony Reinke

Read The Rise of the Control Freak

"In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts17:28