Tag Christian

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Oh I know today is not really Saint Patrick’s day but indulge me for a wee bit and you will see why I say today really is Saint Patrick’s day.

Patrick was one of Christianity’s first outspoken opponents of slavery. 1

Patrick lived after Christianity became mainstream in the Roman Empire. He was born sometime around AD 386 in Britain and died around 460 in Ireland.2 His grandfather was a priest, and his father was a Roman official who was also a deacon in the Roman church. Patrick left two documents: his Confession and Letter to Coroticus.

Patrick’s Letter to Coroticus described converts taken into slavery, with the sign of the cross still fresh on their foreheads. Patrick pleaded for their safe return. He begged Britain’s Christian leadership for help, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Patrick’s decision to identify himself with the Irish, a culture outside of Roman Christianity, diminished his ability to influence the church in Britain.3

Patrick was especially concerned about how Christian women suffered in slavery. Cahill quotes Patrick as saying:

“But it is the women kept in slavery who suffer the most — and who keep their spirits up despite the menacing and terrorizing they must endure. The Lord gives grace to his handmaids; and though they are forbidden to do so, they follow him with backbone.” 4

His outcries against slavery were eventually successful. During Patrick’s lifetime (or shortly after), the slave trade in Ireland stopped.

Human trafficking is today’s equivalent to slavery. Women and children are held against their will and forced to work for their masters. Some sources suggest that 100,000 minors suffer as sex-slaves within the U.S. borders alone, and even more shocking, 100 million people in India are sex-slaves. Of India’s prostitute population, 40% are children. 5

St. Patrick’s Letter pleaded for such as these:

“Hence the Church mourns and laments her sons and daughters whom the sword has not yet slain, but who were removed and carried off to faraway lands, where sin abounds openly, grossly, impudently. There people who were freeborn have, been sold, Christians made slaves, and that, too, in the service of the abominable, wicked, and apostate [unbelievers].” 6

WHERE IS ST. PATRICK TODAY?

Today’s Saint Patrick are people who (a) love God deeply and are able to discern His calling, (b) are able to teach deep truths by illustrations from common experience, (c) prove their faith through a genuine love for people, advocating the cause of those who cannot defend themselves; often this advocacy is motivated by personal experience, and (d) have a deep and personal prayer life.

Patrick’s life was full of obstacles for those who would want to become leaders in a local church much like today: he lacked education and experienced a terrifying adolescence. Those experiences prepared him to be able to reach out to those who are also outcast by the established church. Patrick’s lack of formal education made him a practical theologian, but a theologian none-the-less. Imagine if God only used the seminary trained to reach the lost? Perhaps that is why the populations of the lost continues to grow rapidly while the population of the church continues to decline?

Today is Saint Patrick’s day, a day for all those who have dedicated their lives to God, who may be overlooked by the church, and perhaps considered by some to be uneducated, to arise and go forth like Saint Patrick of Ireland. There is still much work to be done in the world. Make today and everyday Saint Patrick’s day.

Just a view from the nest

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31Open Link in New Window (BBE)

Along for the journey


1 Dates taken from the Dictionary of Christian Biography. Ed. Michael Walsh. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001.

2 As claimed by Thomas Cahill, and evidenced in both Patrick’s Confession and Letter to Coroticus. Also mentioned in Jonathan Hills What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us? How It Shaped the Modern World. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005.

3 Both his identification with the Irish and a sin he confessed before entering the priesthood hindered his influence with the British. His confessed sin somehow become a scandal among church leadership, and prompted him to write his Confession.

4 From Patrick’s Confession, and quoted in Cahill, 109.


6 “Letter to Coroticus.” http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1166.htm
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Yes America, There is a Jesus Christ

Allen Frederick 6 Comments

Be ready to spread the word whether or not the time is right. Point out errors, warn people, and encourage them. Be very patient when you teach. A time will come when people will not listen to accurate teachings. Instead, they will follow their own desires and surround themselves with teachers who tell them what they want to hear. People will refuse to listen to the truth and turn to myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...
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In Germany, as in most of Western Europe, there is a continuing debate about the emerging Muslim population. Their traditions and customs are constantly being called into question, especially those related to women wearing the burqa.

Recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to enter into the debate and make very explicit her feelings on the issues that are dividing a country, fostering hostility and discrimination. In a speech to her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, she said the problem is “We don’t have too much Islam, we have too little Christianity.” She informed the delegates that multiculturalism in Germany had utterly failed.

And here in America apparently the same thing can be said of us. We too have too little Christianity. A great deal of religion perhaps, but very little true Christianity.

Last year (October 2009) the Pew Forum on Religion in America showed us to be a nation that is, more and more, spiritual but not very religious. Asked to describe their beliefs, many Americans describe a theology that is a mulligan stew of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American spirituality, and New Age mumbo-jumbo. http://pewforum.org/

In the mainline denominations, church attendance has replaced church membership as the measure of a church‘s success because American Christians prefer to attend churches that don’t require a commitment.

An Insight Express survey conducted for Parade magazine shows that nearly 60% of Americans believe that all religions have validity. A quarter of Americans say that while religion is part of their lives, it isn’t a big part. While 69% of Americans claim to believe in God, only 27% attend religious services weekly, and a third confess to attending only rarely.

According to the latest data, those Christians for whom religion is important don’t really know all that much about it.

Last year the Barna Group discovered that half of all Christians don’t believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit are real, living entities. A third agreed that the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon taught the same basic truths — and simultaneously believed that the Bible, which says some radically different things from the other two books, is “totally accurate” in its principles. Forty percent don’t know what they think or how they feel about Wicca, even after they’ve been told that it is an “organized form of witchcraft.”

And this year the Pew Forum on Religion in America has just informed us that Christians know less about their own religion than atheists and agnostics do. In fact, compared to Jews, Muslims, Mormons, atheists, and agnostics, Christians know the least about religion in general and their own religion in particular.

What do you suppose is the reason for these statistics. Every town has at least one church, some have several within a 4 block radius of one another. It would appear that America loves to go to church with the number of church buildings in every town and hamlet across the country. But look inside and you will see empty pews . Church attendance is seen as unimportant to many in our society. And society shows the signs of this apathetic behavior.

Promotion of the Gospel of Christ has been eliminated from most public debate and instruction. Businesses, governments, schools and the public square have all but eliminated any mention of God or God’s ways. The teachings of Christ have not only been eliminated from the public forum, it has also all but disappeared in our homes as well.

Yes Virginia, we are told there is a Santa Clause, but I ask you is there a Jesus Christ in your Christmas plans? At this time of Advent it would do us all well to evaluate our walks and commitment to the Lord. Have we made God an afterthought, or is He first and foremost in our hearts and minds? According to the statistics quoted above I fear the former is our reality. Yes America there is too little Christianity.

And that is this weeks tail feather. Think about it.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31Open Link in New Window (BBE)

Along for the journey
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Never Give Up

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

As a Christian we have a higher power from which we can draw our strength from. Although there are many who rise up against you never forget that greater is He who is with you then he who is with them. We serve the greater good, the highest authority, and the final arbitrator of all things. He is the King of kings and the Lord of all lords. And you my child are a King’s kid.
 

 

What We Spend Our Time Talking About

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

 

Here is a pictorial representation of the topics discussed here at Journey Across the Sky. You can get a pictorial image of your blog by going to wordle.com. As you can see there is a large number of topics discussed here at this blog but one of the biggest entries is God. My aim is to talk about current events in light of scripture and see how we are to respond to these events. As a Christian I think it is important that we filter everything through the scriptures to see how God views these issues. There is nothing new under the sun as Solomon stated so well. And therefore every issue we face in life there are scriptures to help us sort through them and find out how God instructed Israel to deal with these same issues.

Regardless how hard I try to maintain purity in my posts I am sure from time to time I may err in my speech. The bible tells us:

 

When words are many, sin is not lacking; so he who controls his speech is wise. The tongue of the righteous is like pure silver, but the mind of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.
Proverbs 10:19-21

Idle talk can pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise can heal. Truthful words will stand forever, lying speech but a moment.
Proverbs 12:18-19

The wise man’s heart teaches his mouth, and to his lips it adds learning. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the taste and healing for the body.
Proverbs 16:23-24

He who belittles another lacks good sense, whereas a person of discernment stays silent.
Proverbs 11:12

It is not my intention to offend anyone nor is it my heart’s desire to share untruths with the world, my aim is to be a blessing and encouragement to others. May God bless you as you travel with me as we Journey Across the Sky.

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The Truth of Sharia Law Exposed

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock
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Truth be told, Islam is only a religion of Peace when all other belief systems have been annihilated. The very tenets of Islam dictate everything about a person’s life. It is a religion of totalitarianism, were forced adherence trumps freedom of religion. The only religion you are free to practice under Sharia law is Islam. All other belief systems are considered apostate and must be eradicated from the planet.

There is no such thing as religious tolerance under Sharia law, because the only religion that Sharia law tolerates is Islam. This story exposes us to three real life examples of people who chose a different path besides Islam who were met not with tolerance but intolerance and death threats.

As Christians we need to understand that not all religions are created equal, in fact there is only one way to find peace and harmony in the world and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus himself.

Amplify’d from www.assistnews.net



AUSTRALIA
 (ANS) — In 1980, Egypt amended its constitution to elevate Sharia (Islamic law) as “the principal source of legislation”. This provision — which is now common in Muslim constitutions, including the new constitutions of Afghanistan and Iraq — renders constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and equality before the law illusory. For Sharia’s principal aim concerning religious liberty, is to eradicate apostasy (rejection of Islam) through the elimination of fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to reject Islam) and the establishment of dhimmitude (the humiliation and subjugation of Jews and Christians as second class citizens; crippling systematic discrimination; violent religious apartheid). There is no religious liberty in Islam, for Islam survives as religious totalitarianism that refuses rejection.

In Egypt, as in virtually all Muslim states, a person’s official religion is displayed on their identity card. According to Sharia, every child born to a Muslim father is deemed Muslim from birth. According to Sharia, a Muslim woman is only permitted to marry a Muslim man. (NOTE: This is the main reason why Christian men convert to Islam, and why female converts to Christianity will risk life and liberty to secure a falsified/illegal ID, for without a Christian ID they cannot marry a Christian.)

If a Christian father converts to Islam (as some do for any number of pragmatic reasons, such as a desire for a Muslim wife or a better job), his Christian children are automatically deemed Muslim. They have no say in this and may not apostasise: i.e. return to Christianity. If a Muslim parent converts to Christianity they automatically lose custody of their children.

Read more at www.assistnews.net
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/7ta5
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