While watching MSNB’s Dateline, I was reminded of the sexual disaster of America. Utilizing a non-profit group known as Perverted Justice, MSNBC trolled for men who were willing to engage in sex with a thirteen year old girl or boy. Decoys would engage these men in chat rooms or via the phone and would invite them to meet them in a quiet residential neighborhood.
MSNBC trolled for a mere three days. I would have expected half a dozen men to greet the MSNBC cameras. Shockingly, over fifty men were arrested subsequent to their surprise interviews. With nary a blush, the men would spin the most outrageous lies. “I did not know how old she was.” “I just came to teach her a lesson about online predators.” Then the MSNBC reporter would unveil their lewd and offensive chat room dialogues that left all of the lies naked. Seldom did any of the men show shame.
From a short four years in ministry, I met many men who struggled with sexual issues. Dozens were addicted to pornography. Some may have been emerging predators. How many men have sexual sin at some point in their life? 100%! In the words of a New Zealand evangelist, “There are only two kinds of men in this world. Perverts and forgiven perverts.”
America is in the throes of a great plague. Predators are being created daily by our over-saturation with sexual content. MTV and HBO know no limitations to their exploitation of man’s desire for sexual gratification. Recent Victoria’s Secret advertisements aired at all hours have only one purpose; arousal.
If the Church does not mobilize to address the silent plague, our young men will be rapists, our young women will be victims and our parents will be complicit. God has made us fully aware of the scope of our degradation.
To read the full MSNBC story, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11152602/. Please be aware that the content is graphic. This is the third time that MSNBC has pursued sexual predators.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Afghanistan's Freedom in Islam
Editor's note: This story was reported by ABC News at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1746943&page=1. It details the plight of a man who embraced Christ in a country that utterly rejects Him. Death is often the end of those who leave Islam for Christ. Pray for this man.
ABC NEWS
By GRETCHEN PETERS and LARA SETRAKIAN, with reporting by BILAL SARWARY
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 20, 2006 — Despite the overthrow of the fundamentalist Taliban government and the presence of 22,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a man who converted to Christianity is being prosecuted in Kabul, and a judge said Sunday that if convicted, he faces the death penalty.
Abdul Rahman, who is in his 40s, says he converted to Christianity 16 years ago while working as an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Relatives denounced him as a convert during a custody battle over his children, and he was arrested last month. The prosecutor says Rahman was found with a Bible.
Human rights workers have described the case as an unsettling reminder that the country's post-Taliban judiciary remains deeply conservative, and they have called on President Hamid Karzai to intervene. During Taliban times, men were forced to kneel in prayer five times a day, and couples faced the death penalty for sex outside marriage, for example. Reform efforts have been slow, say experts, since there are so few judges and lawyers with experience.
The U.S. State Department is watching the case closely and considers it a barometer of how well democracy is developing in Afghanistan.
"Our view … is that tolerance, freedom of worship is an important element of any democracy," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "And these are issues as Afghan democracy matures that they are going to have to deal with increasingly."
A number of Christian nonprofit groups do humanitarian work in Afghanistan. Dominic Nutt of Christian Aid calls the Rahman case a step backward for the country, especially if Rahman is executed.
Nutt, who has spent time in Afghanistan, tells ABC News "few practitioners are used to the concept of democracy and toleration … [many] are educated only in Islamic law."
Presiding judge Ansarullah Mawlazezadah tells ABC News a medical team was checking the defendant, since the team suspects insanity caused Rahman to reject Islam.
"We want to know that the doctors have given him a green light on his mental state, because he is not normal when he talks," says the judge.
The post-Taliban constitution recognizes Islam as Afghanistan's religion, and decrees that Islam's Sharia law applies when a case is not covered by specific legislation. The prosecutor says under Sharia law, Abdul Rahman must die.
The judge, however, holds hopes for a solution.
"We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian," Mawlazezadah says. "If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance."
Article continued at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1746943&page=1
ABC NEWS
By GRETCHEN PETERS and LARA SETRAKIAN, with reporting by BILAL SARWARY
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 20, 2006 — Despite the overthrow of the fundamentalist Taliban government and the presence of 22,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a man who converted to Christianity is being prosecuted in Kabul, and a judge said Sunday that if convicted, he faces the death penalty.
Abdul Rahman, who is in his 40s, says he converted to Christianity 16 years ago while working as an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Relatives denounced him as a convert during a custody battle over his children, and he was arrested last month. The prosecutor says Rahman was found with a Bible.
Human rights workers have described the case as an unsettling reminder that the country's post-Taliban judiciary remains deeply conservative, and they have called on President Hamid Karzai to intervene. During Taliban times, men were forced to kneel in prayer five times a day, and couples faced the death penalty for sex outside marriage, for example. Reform efforts have been slow, say experts, since there are so few judges and lawyers with experience.
The U.S. State Department is watching the case closely and considers it a barometer of how well democracy is developing in Afghanistan.
"Our view … is that tolerance, freedom of worship is an important element of any democracy," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "And these are issues as Afghan democracy matures that they are going to have to deal with increasingly."
A number of Christian nonprofit groups do humanitarian work in Afghanistan. Dominic Nutt of Christian Aid calls the Rahman case a step backward for the country, especially if Rahman is executed.
Nutt, who has spent time in Afghanistan, tells ABC News "few practitioners are used to the concept of democracy and toleration … [many] are educated only in Islamic law."
Presiding judge Ansarullah Mawlazezadah tells ABC News a medical team was checking the defendant, since the team suspects insanity caused Rahman to reject Islam.
"We want to know that the doctors have given him a green light on his mental state, because he is not normal when he talks," says the judge.
The post-Taliban constitution recognizes Islam as Afghanistan's religion, and decrees that Islam's Sharia law applies when a case is not covered by specific legislation. The prosecutor says under Sharia law, Abdul Rahman must die.
The judge, however, holds hopes for a solution.
"We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian," Mawlazezadah says. "If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance."
Article continued at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1746943&page=1
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Islam's Forgotten History
If it were not for the intervention of God, we would be speaking Arabic, praying five times daily to Mecca and participating in the hegira. Few remember their history. It was a fateful day in 732 A.D. that Charles “The Hammer” Martel brought the Cordoban Muslim emirate to its knees. By stopping the Islamic hordes at Tours, Charles stopped Islam from conquering all of Europe.
Even fewer people realize that modern day Spain was controlled by Islam until 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella finally reclaimed the Iberian Peninsula for Roman Catholicism (Map – Dark brown denotes Muslim dominion in 750 A.D.).
Even fewer people realize that modern day Spain was controlled by Islam until 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella finally reclaimed the Iberian Peninsula for Roman Catholicism (Map – Dark brown denotes Muslim dominion in 750 A.D.).
It is a grand history of hundreds of years of domination, glorious conquest and fabled wealth that still inspires many of those who practice jihad or holy war.
A world ruled by those who take the Koran literally is too dreary to contemplate. Consider the following quotes:
· On February 23, 1998, five Islamic caliphates signed a fatwa declaring war against the U.S. · “The ruling to kill Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it…”
· Surah 2:191 states, “And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out, for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter.”
· Surah 4:89 states, “Seize them and slay them wherever you may find them…”
· Surah 9:29 states, “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day.”
When you contemplate your role in evangelism, keep in mind that Christians are beginning to fall behind in the race for souls. 
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)