Great advice for those tasked with preaching the Gospel.

Here is a great quote by Archibald Geikie Brown (1844-1922), a Baptist Minister from the era of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. From 1908 to 1911 he was Pastor of the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which was the church pastored at one time by Spurgeon and also by other notable preachers. If only our pulpits were filled with preachers who followed Brown's advice, what a revival there would be!

• "The Gospel is a fact; therefore tell it simply.
• The Gospel is a joyful fact; therefore tell it cheerfully.
• The Gospel is an entrusted fact; therefore tell it faithfully.
• The Gospel is a fact of infinite moment; therefore tell it earnestly.
• The Gospel is a fact of infinite love; therefore tell it feelingly.
• The Gospel is a fact of difficult incomprehension; therefore tell it with illustration.
• The Gospel is a fact about a Person; therefore preach Christ."

Islamic coalition announces support for Michigan legislation! Bill would prohibit courts from using foreign and sharia law

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Gregg Edgar Gordon C. James Public Relations gedgar@gcjpr.com 602-690-7977

American Muslims speak out against the enforcement of shari‘ah law in America
Islamic Coalition announces support for Michigan legislation that will bar state courts from enforcing ‘foreign law’ above U.S. and state constitution

Washington, DC (August 31, 2011) – A coalition of diverse American Muslim leaders has announced support for a proposed bill in the Michigan State Assembly, HB 4679, that is intended to bar Michigan courts from enforcing any foreign law, if doing so violates any rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and/or the state of Michigan’s constitution.

Like many Americans, members of the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) have been observing the efforts of a growing number of state legislatures, which are seeking to address the incompatibility of various shari‘ah court systems around the world with the principles and foundations of our Constitutional republic and its laws. As American Muslims, we believe that the law should treat people of all faiths equally, while protecting Muslims and non-Muslims alike from extremist attempts to use the legal instrument of shari‘ah (also known as Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh) to incubate, within the West, a highly politicized and dangerous understanding of Islam that is generally known as “Islamism,” or “radical Islam.”

We see no evidence that statutes like HB 4769 will adversely impact the free exercise of our personal pietistic observance of Islam, which is not in conflict with the U.S. or Michigan constitutions. We recognize that not only Muslims, but also Jews, Christians and all people of faith need the government to protect their right to peaceful assembly, mediation and arbitration free of coercion, but also within the bounds of American constitutional principles. Therefore, we stand together as a diverse coalition in support of any legislation that serves to protect and integrate our communities into the fabric of this great nation, by strengthening our accountability to the laws of the land, and the constitutions of the various states in which we live.

As American Muslims we are conscious of the fact that Muslim Brotherhood legacy groups and other Islamists and their surrogates in the U.S. are trying their best to portray any opposition to manifestations of shari‘ah law as “racism” and “discrimination against Muslims.” However, as a coalition of traditional, liberal and secular Muslim Americans, we denounce this fear-mongering and playing of the race card, which only serves to mask the Islamists’ highly politicized agenda. According to AILC member C. Holland Taylor, “the Islamist agenda threatens not only the well-being of the United States and its inhabitants, but also undermines and distorts the highest principles of Islam itself.”

“Michigan House Bill 4769 seeks to ensure that American Muslims can live in freedom and safety, in accordance with our constitutional principles, and not be enveloped by the tentacles of medieval, man-made laws that have been falsely accorded divine status,” said the AILC.

“To equate Bill 4769 to racism is not only dishonest, but is a poor and clumsy attempt at making ordinary Muslim Americans feel alien in their own homeland, while creating a rift between Muslims and the rest of our country,” said AILC member Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser.

Michigan House Bill 4769 states:

“[To] ...limit the application and enforcement by a court, arbitrator, or administrative body of foreign laws that would impair constitutional rights; to provide for modification or voiding of certain contractual provisions or agreements that would result in a violation of constitutional rights; and to require a court, arbitrator, or administrative body to take certain actions to prevent violation of constitutional rights.”

The AILC statement reinforces the American Muslim community's commitment to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and the separation between religion and state. Unfortunately, Islamist groups would like to compromise this separation and provide cover to medieval, misogynistic and homophobic laws that no Muslim is obligated to demand as public law.

“Shari‘ah law, wherever it has been applied in the public domain, be it in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, has resulted in untold misery and oppression of Muslims, in particular Muslim women, by Islamists and dictators who invoke shari‘ah law to justify their rule,” said AILC member Manda Ervin. “Many of us fled the Muslim world to escape shari‘ah law and to practice Islam in our personal lives, by moving to the USA and other western countries. We do not wish these laws to follow us here,” she concluded.

The Michigan state senators are not alone in expressing concern about foreign laws creeping into North America under the guise of religious freedom. Many Muslim academics, religious scholars and human rights activists have voiced their concern.

The contrast between what has occurred in Britain and in Canada provides a roadmap for how the U.S. may address these legal issues. In Britain, shari‘ah arbitration courts have been allowed to assume virtually unchecked control of legal arrangements in many Muslim communities. This is creating a ghettoized, medieval and separatist state within Britain. In Canada, however, local Muslims led strong opposition to the Islamists’ shari‘ah agenda and were successful in preventing its implementation, thereby sparing our Northern neighbor the fate of so many Muslims in the United Kingdom, where women are commonly subjected to forced marriage and the denial of basic human rights.

“We Muslims in Canada defeated an attempt by Islamists to sneak shari‘ah law into Ontario,” said AILC member Tarek Fatah, who has been on the front lines of this struggle for many years. “We recognized the damage shari‘ah had inflicted on Muslims in the UK, and its oppressive nature in Muslim-majority countries, and decided to oppose it. We urge American Muslims not to succumb to the Islamists’ propaganda, and to back the Michigan Bill, which will protect Muslims and non-Muslims alike from the impact of foreign laws that violate the U.S. or Michigan constitutions.”

About the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC)
The American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) is a diverse coalition of liberty-minded, North American Muslim leaders and organizations. AILC’s mission advocates for defending the US Constitution, upholding religious pluralism, protecting American security and cherishing genuine diversity in the faith and practice of Islam. AILC provides a stark alternative to the Islamist organizations that claim to speak for what are diverse American Muslim communities. For more information on AILC, please visit our website at http://www.americanislamicleadership.org/.

AILC Coalition Signatories

Bahman Batmanghelidj Founding Member Alliance for Democracy in Iran Virginia, USA	Manda Zand Ervin President Alliance of Iranian Women Maryland, USA	Tarek Fatah Founder Muslim Canadian Congress Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jamal Hasan Council for Democracy and Tolerance Baltimore, MD	Farzana Hassan, Ed.D. Past President Muslim Canadian Congress Toronto, Ontario, Canada	M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. President American Islamic Forum for Democracy Phoenix, AZ
Hasan Mahmud Member, Advisory Board World Muslim Congress Dallas, TX	C. Holland Taylor Chairman & CEO LibForAll Foundation Winston-Salem, NC	Jalal Zuberi, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics Morehouse School of Medicine Atlanta, GA

Sharing the love of Christ through Heaven's Family

I have been a supporter of Heaven's Family, of which this is just one part of the work that they do, for many years now. It's an organisation which I can commend to you for your support. The following email about the continuing work in North Korea has just arrived on my PC.

A Letter from Inside North Korea Posted: 29 Aug 2011 10:29 AM PDT Dear Friends, Just this month we helped fund the smuggling of food for 45 families (about 200 people) inside North Korea. As a result, we received the following letter that was secretly carried back out of the country, written by one of those blessed by your compassion. Here is the actual letter with the translation following…. Our life on this side is like going deeper and deeper into a mountain range: we live expecting it will be better every year, but faced with ever harsher reality, it cannot be explained with anything. Such a boundless misery, the whole population is suffering from starvation. That is, there is no compensation for struggle no matter how great; there is no profit in doing business. Consequently, beggars continue to increase in number on the street. Occasionally, homes are empty overnight, and rumor goes around saying the occupants ran away somewhere. It is now common everywhere to disregard a person lying dead on the street and for no one to care. It is because such things happen too often. So, in the midst of this, it became possible not only for us to overcome this hardship, but also to share with those who are suffering around us. Indeed, if God hadn’t helped us, we’d have become beggars now. We do not know how to repay your favors. We can only tell and pray to Him. We have experienced God’s marvelous works here. Truly we thank you. Thanks for praying and giving to feed our suffering North Korean brothers and sisters in Christ through the North Korean Christians Fund. On their behalf, Elisabeth Servant Director, North Korean Christians Fund

UK Riots: Following the Ten Commandments would have made the difference

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
1	“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command then there would have been no riots.
2	“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command then there would have been no rioting or looting.
3	“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command there would have been no riots.
4	“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command there would have been no riots
5	“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command they would have learned from their parents to respect others and themselves, and there would have been no riots
6	“You shall not murder. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command there would have been no deaths as a direct result of the rioting.
7	“You shall not commit adultery. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command there would have been greater respect for other people and for  God's laws, and there would have been no riots.
8	“You shall not steal. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command there would have been no looting and no rioting.
9	“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command then respect for both life and property of others would have ensured that there would have been no riots
10	“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.” If those involved in the UK riots had obeyed this command there would have been no looting and no rioting.

The Work of God's Hands

 Wherever you look you see the work of God's hand and the work of men that have been inspired by Him to create beautiful surroundings.

 Wherever you are you can praise God for the beauty of the earth, and thank Him for giving us such a wonderful world. Then you can pray that mankind will become fit to inhabit it. 

The Sleeping Church

      Are you part of 'The Sleeping Church' that the devil is so proud of, or are you a battle-tested warrior in the army of Christ? If you cannot honestly answer yes to the latter then you belong to the former, make no mistake. Of course, your head will be full of excuses as to why that is, but can you not see that the reason for the excuses is because you are not passionately committed to winning the battle?
      Sunday by Sunday folk occupy chairs and pews in churches to take part in a worship service that fails to really get off the ground. More often than not the minds of so many people will be wandering to other things, other matters, rather than focussing on God. You don't go to church for your benefit but for God's benefit. The Bible tells us to '... seek first His kingdom and His righteousness' (Matthew 6:33 NIV), but do you?
      Go into the majority of church services on a Sunday morning and sit for fifteen minutes prior to the time the service begins and what will you find? Do you find people prayerfully and quietly preparing themselves to meet with God and be spiritually fed? NO! You hear the incessant chatter that calls to mind the Tower of Babel! In fact, it's so bad that sometimes those few folk that do try to contemplate the time that are about to spend with the Lord find it almost impossible to think because of the noise. I can recall a time when, as the pastor of a church, I had to remonstrate with the congregation because the babble in the sanctuary was so loud before the service that I was unable to concentrate fully as I prayed whilst in the vestry next door. Where has the reverence for God gone when people consider chattering to their friends more important than seeking the face of God in silent prayer?
      The content of the service often does little to improve matters either. The hymns are more often viewed as 'church entertainment' rather than a means of reaching up to God in worship and praise. The comments that you hear will reflect more upon whether people liked the tune than whether the words meant anything to them. On the subject of hymns, why do so many churches resort to mere songs that tickle the ears rather than hymns that elevate their souls to heaven itself by their content? All too often, the answer is that people want to come to church and be entertained by the songs and music.
      Who is there at the service to actually take part? Surely it should be everyone! Yet all too often everything to do with worship is left to the pastor standing at the front of the assembled congregation. It is the pastor who must pray aloud the prayers that, although often lacking in holiness, the congregation will dutifully add their 'Amen' to when they are drawn to a close. It's as if the congregation, in their failure to learn how to pray, require that prayer is by proxy, the joint proxy of the congregation being laid on the shoulders of the pastor.  Where is the value in prayer such as this? I suggest that there simply is none at all!
      Then we have the sermon or homily or message, whatever description you wish to apply. Is it a message that is uplifting and edifying, or a message that helps you to understand what God not only expects of you but demands it as well? Do the words of the preacher act as a fan to the spiritual embers that are burning inside you fanning them into a roaring fire that seeks to ignite others with the message that you have heard? Are you prepared, after hearing the message, to become arsonists for God, setting fires in the lives of others whom you will meet as you go about your daily lives beyond the safety of the church walls?
      Whenever I preach I expect that God will work, using his Holy Spirit to stir people into action in the Lord's work. For people to come up to me at the close of the service and smile, shake my hand and say "That was nice" tells me that I failed to move them to action. I much prefer it when they scurry past me, annoyed because they have been stirred to discomfort by the Spirit as a result of the words that God placed on my lips. After all, I'm there for God's benefit not to be popular.
      The truth is that whilst the battle rages outside of the church walls, and all too often inside them as well, the Church is slumbering, almost it would seem oblivious to the fate that the body of the Church seems to be so apathetic towards. It's time for the Church to wake up, and that means every member of the body, including you! 
      Where are the Prayer Meetings and the Bible Studies, and where are the Sunday Schools in so many of our churches. Many churches do not have a Prayer Meeting, and yet the most tried method of judging the effectiveness of any church in Kingdom terms is to look at the attitude that prevails in it regarding prayer. Unless every aspect of church life and ministry is underpinned and supported with and by prayer then it is doomed to failure. Whilst Christ is the foundation of the Church, prayer is the foundation of  the church's life at grass-roots level. No matter what programmes a church may try to implement, if it lacks the underpinning of prayer then it will never achieve its potential. 
      If there are no Bible Studies where members may gather to increase their knowledge of God's Word, then those same members will remain as spiritual babes.  For faith to mature it must be fed regularly.
      Check off the following attributes of the church that is awake against your own place of worship:

• Worship God and not worship man.
• Minister to God and not to man.
• Hear and Fear God and not hear and fear man.
• Focus on Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on the cross.
• Believe in the Bible and practice accordingly.
• All aspects of the church activities are centred on the above.
• All aspects of the lives of the believers are centred on the above.
• Very end times focussed, just as Jesus has commanded and the Apostles have duly obeyed. So did the early Christians.
• There is an increasing intensity of the moving and manifestation of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of above. 

      Do not be side-tracked by thinking about all the programmes that your church has in place. Whilst they may well be commendable, what do they do towards reaping the harvest of souls into the heavenly kingdom? God's business is about the salvation of souls, and our business should be to work as we are called to see God's business come to fruition. The world is full of things that will seek to entice you away from doing as God demands, but the choices you make are up to you. You can follow your heart's desire in worldly terms or you can follow God's leading in heavenly terms.

      If your church is lacking in spiritual zeal and the fire of the Holy Spirit, repent now and pray for help to put matters right before the Lord! Do not leave it a moment longer! You are called by God to be warriors on the battle-field, not generals watching from a distant hill-top. I pray that if you are part of the sleeping church then you will wake up before it's too late.

No wonder we have problems with Call Centres!

 These photographs were taken in India.

 When you have a problem with your computer you get put through to a Call Centre in India.

No wonder you get frustrated and so often end up with even greater problems!

Why America is Less Safe…

Why America is Less Safe…

…and What We Are Doing About It

By Guy Rodgers, Executive Director, ACT! for America

Osama bin Laden is dead, but America is less safe than it was three years ago. Why?

Because the very interrogation techniques that provided valuable intelligence that led to our government finding bin Laden have been banned by President Obama.

What’s worse, some of the CIA interrogators who used those techniques, with government approval, remain under investigation today by Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department. Consider the message that sends.

Those opposed to “enhanced interrogation techniques” have blustered and blundered their way through “explanations” that such techniques were not necessary in obtaining the intelligence needed to find bin Laden.

Nonsense.

Numerous top former intelligence and Justice Department officials have spoken on the record since bin Laden was killed, all making a clear and compelling case that such techniques were indispensable in obtaining the intelligence needed to find bin Laden.

America is less safe now than three years ago because interrogators today are shackled by interrogation guidelines that are actually more restrictive than those a homicide detective might use in questioning a murder suspect.

The fact is, had interrogators during the Bush administration been restricted by the interrogation guidelines the Obama administration now operates under, it is highly unlikely some of the key intelligence that led to bin Laden would have ever been obtained.

The Obama administration suffers under a denial of reality that has put America at greater risk from the violent jihad of radical Islam.

First, this administration has consciously engaged in what I term “Jihad Denial Syndrome.” Those laboring under this malady refuse to acknowledge what most people can plainly see, that jihadist ideology is what is driving those who wish us harm. As I said in a commentary last year, this goes well beyond political correctness. Second, this administration, because it denies there is a jihadist ideology driving Islamic terrorism, refuses to characterize this as a “war,” instead treating it as a criminal justice problem. It is this mindset that produces absurd orders to read Miranda rights to insurgents captured in Afghanistan. It is this mindset that leads to Eric Holder’s obsession with civilian criminal trials for suspected terrorists who would receive more due process rights than a uniformed enemy combatant is entitled to under the Geneva Convention.

Yes, bin Laden is dead. America is right to celebrate.

But we must continue to organize and speak out against government policies that appease our enemies and compromise our security. Our voice must continue to get louder and stronger.

ACT! for America is now the largest grassroots national security organization in the nation, with nearly 160,000 members and 560 local chapters. Your voice, your action, will help us grow stronger so we can more effectively push back against the policies that compromise our safety and security.

In the near future we will be putting out emails describing some significant successes and victories we are right now in the process of winning. You will be greatly encouraged, as we are.

You will see how strategic, organized grassroots action is working—and how the efforts of tens of thousands of ACT! for America chapter leaders and members are paying off.

This is no time to be timid or complacent.