If family be a hindrance, then maybe family is the key as well. Working parents with schoolchildren know the experience of droping off the kids at school before work and picking them up at the end of the day. If drop-offs happened in the same place as Morning Prayer before work, things could be a lot easier. If parents could go to worship with their children in the morning and not have to take them some place else before work, they could have more time to grow together with their families and have a time to be still before God and peacefully to entrust themselves and their children to his mercy.

Islam is growing fast in Africa. Already more than 50% of the inhabitants of Africa are Muslim. It has been stated and echoed again and again by Muslim leaders that Africa will become the first “Islamic Continent”. They are very serious about this. The Iranians, Libyans, the Saudis,and many other members of the 57 nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) are pouring many millions of dollars into African nations to build mosques, Islamic schools, clinics and to support a literal army of Islamic teachers and preachers. East Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and the Eastern Congo) is a priority target for Islamic takeover because of it’s poverty and the ancient roots of Arab businessmen here Tanzania is alreaddy more than 30% Muslim, the tipping point for domination is about 40%.

At a Jerusalem Conference of church leaders Bishop Alexis Bilindabagabo was approached by two Tanzanian leaders who said, “You there in Eastern Rwanda still have revival. The churches in the path of the Islamic takeover in Tanzania are weak, worldly, or fractured. Can’t you come over and help us before the Muslims takeover? Otherwise Christians wll become a persecuted minority.”

Bishop Alexis had experienced cruel ethnic persecution in Rwanda and had been forced to be a refugee from his own country three times. He heard their cry and prayed. Then he invited these two Tanzanian leaders to the East Africa Revival Convention held in his Gahini Diocese each year and by faith announced God had raised up 18 laymen who were experience and committed evangelists to send to Tanzania to work with the churches there that are directly confronted by the Islamic Invasion. Out of this was born the Vision for an inter-denominational, international ministry of partners that would enlarge and accelerate the Mission to confront the Islamic Challenge with a revival of an evangelistic, missionary, church planting spirit.

Consider supporting this important effort in prayer and with money.

The reformist Iranian scholar Mohsen Kadivar, in an article contributed to The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking politics and modernity, edited by Mehran Kamrava (2006), asserts that “most available interpretations of Islam do not welcome the freedom of religion and belief”, before going on to argue that a more correct interpretation of Scripture and valid traditions accepts the principle of “no compulsion in religion” (see 2:256 in the Qur’an). But Kadivar has been punished by eighteen months in an Iranian prison for his exegesis of Scripture, and many other reformists, in Iran and elsewhere, have suffered worse.

He notes an event of interest to me mentioned in Scott Atran’s book Talking to the Enemy, where:

…the actions, during the massacres in Rwanda, of the many Muslims who saved thousands of non-Muslims, both Tutsi and Hutu, when churches, governments and secular NGOs turned away.

He also mentions that the RAND corporation sought to intervene in the theology of Islam in 2004:

Some other analysts are worried that Western-inspired initiatives, such as that embarked on briefly by the RAND Corporation in 2004, to intervene in the theology of another religion may have unintended consequences, one of which is that progressive ulama are exposed to allegations that they are tools of Western intelligence services.

I had never heard of this, but I tracked down some RAND reports and hope to look into it a bit more. How fascinating that our ‘secular’ government has no problem ruling on what religious tenets are actually acceptable to the State. The left has no problem deploying theology when it suits them.

The Red Queen shook her head, ‘You may call it “nonsense” if you like,’ she said, ‘ but I’VE heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!’

Yesterday, an Alice in Wonderland story appeared online alleging all kinds of things about why AMiA split and Chuck Murphy eventually fled church discipline. Amongst many other charges in the Pravda-worthy article is one from Retired Archbishop Kolini, who “noted that Bishop Alexis Bilindabagabo of Gahini Diocese took money from Trinity Wall Street.”

When contacted in Rwanda where he is preparing for an international conference with the Conseil Protestant du Rwanda (CPR), Bishop Bilindabagabo said, “I did not ask for and I did not get any money from TEC since 2004, the year our Province decided to stop receiving money from TEC. This includes even money for the then ongoing projects. In 2004 we as a diocese and I as a person stopped any kind of contact with TEC and of course Trinity.”

One wonders if this latest article in any way alters the perception of those who drafted the Winter Conference Communique, when they wrote: “We are thankful that our leaders have committed to healthy internal communication and support their decision not to respond to negative characterizations in the media.”

Curiouser and curiouser…

You (CJ) continued by saying that Larry “must confine [himself] to the that point in order to leave peacefully.” In other words, you could accept Larry telling the movement he was abruptly and prematurely pulling out of the disciplinary process because he disagreed with our assessment of his character. You would not allow him to explain his departure in terms of doctrinal differences. But then you went further. You told Larry if he included doctrine as a basis for leaving “we will go into more detail regarding your sin and if necessary Justin’s sin.”

C.J. then went on to blackmail the Tomczak’s in a phone call where he threatened releasing details of their son’s confessions to him as a pastor to the public; this was in 1997. Mahaney acknowledged this in a confession to Covenant Life Church, but he called it ‘coercion’:

It grieves me to report to you that in a particular phone conversation I sought to coerce Larry to present his leaving as I thought was right.

Sovereign Grace has looked at this and many other things and essentially said “no problem”! Get back in the saddle and go get them big guy! Mahaney has repented of this sin and has confessed it, let’s be clear. But that does not mean that he is fit to serve any more. Imagine confessing your sins to a pastor and then having him use them against you or your family to get you to act in a certain way. Is someone who does that fit to be a pastor let alone a functional bishop?

But, C.J. is a Reformed big wig so he gets a pass. Disgusting, reprehensible and arrogant.

1. What do you do during the week?
2. What things are most important to you? Why?
3. What do you think is wrong with the world?
4. What do you think is the root cause of the problems in the world?
5. Would you describe yourself as religious?
6. What do you know about Jesus Christ?
7. If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
8. If it were possible to know God personally, would you want to?

He also referred to these courses. It’s worth looking into for we who are evangelism-challenged.

1. Full participation in an existing diocese of ACNA

2. Remaining affiliated with PEAR while also forming a subjurisdiction of ACNA

3. Remaining affiliated with PEAR by establishing a missionary jurisdiction in North America

I would think, although I am not sure of it, that the first two options will be the most popular. Some churches may want to simply be part of the new province in North America and will move accordingly. Others may desire to have a part in ACNA and do what Archbishop Duncan called for in planting churches with Anglican 1000, still maintaining ties with our Rwandan brothers and sisters.

The option of creating a missionary jurisdiction in North America is what the AMiA was supposed to have been, before all the talk of a ‘personal prelature’ came about. What I don’t understand about that option is why PEAR would want two separate entities within the USA? Also, what would the difference be on the ground between option two and option three? I’m sure time will bring clarity to these options.

Christians in the modern age have often ridden the wave of sacrificial politics, and American Christians have shown as little resistance as any. Christians are among the most patriotic Americans. So seamless is our union of American ideals with Christianity that it is difficult for us to consider even the possibility that our nation is a sacrificial system competing with God and the church for our loyalty. It is virtually unthinkable that God might call us to the sacrifice of martyrdom in opposition to America rather than to sacrifice in defense of America. No wonder activist Christians are so readily folded back into the system. Until we get sacrifice straight, until there are actual martyrs, our resistance to statism will remain anemic.

His article describes nation states as transformed churches, demanding ultimate loyalty.

This is the man who led one wing of the “family values” party back in the Nineties. A man who attempted to impeach another philandering con artist who sat in the Oval Office for lying about his own “inappropriate intimate contact.” He may be a forgiven man, although I would bet that he is now lying about what he asked his former wife. However, if he is truly penitent I think he would want to fade away, serve somewhere insignificant and out of sight. Instead, we see him back at center stage, inflicting himself on the nation again.

And Republicans who blithely support men like Newt and Herman Cain cast doubt on the integrity of the entire Right. If it had been Bill Clinton up on stage wagging his finger at an anchor last night, the Right wing universe in bold array would have been in an uproar today, calling down wrath on him. Newt would probably be at the front of the line! However, if it’s one of “our” guys, well then let’s cheer him on as he attacks the media. What a farce! I hope that over time our better instincts kick in and he suffers the fate of Mark Sanford, Herman Cain and Larry Craig.

Ultimately, this same story of amoral leadership has dominated politics throughout my lifetime, from Gary Hart(pence) to Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich to John Edwards. Most of these men are social grafters who are obsessed with making money and moving up to ultimate positions of power and saying whatever it takes to get there. I’m starting to think that anyone who is upwardly mobile cannot be trusted in politics. The patricians like Romney and Bush Senior have the manners to avoid tawdry affairs like this. Moreover, Romney’s Mormonism more and more shows itself to be a compass of clarity for his personal morality – something that is tragic when you think about it. If Gingrich is the nominee, I will vote third party or stay home.