I Have Decided

Recently at the grocery store I saw a lady wearing a tee shirt bearing the following slogan in large bold letters: “I HAVE DECIDED.”

I immediately knew what she was saying but knew that many people would not.  I thought to myself that this was a wonderful evangelistic tool. The shirt was a conversation starter. People might ask her what she had decided and then she would be able to tell them. A wonderful way to unobtrusively fulfill the biblical injunction presented in 1 Peter 3:15. "... but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;"

The quoted phrase is, of course, from the Christian hymn, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. The hymn was originated in India by the Christian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh (born 1889, India), a convert from Sikhism. The lyrics are the last words of an Assamese convert to Christianity who was martyred along with his wife for refusing to deny his Christian conversion. His martyrdom led to the conversion of many in his village including the village leader who ordered his execution.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WDWPYWNX

(The lyrics used in this video are slightly different from those shown below.)

"I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me,

The world behind me, the cross before me,

The world behind me, the cross before me,

No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, I still will follow,

Though none go with me, I still will follow,

Though none go with me, I still will follow,

No turning back, no turning back.

Will you decide now to follow Jesus?

Will you decide now to follow Jesus?

Will you decide now to follow Jesus?

No turning back, no turning back."

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Definitions: Chastity

Chassity, Chassidy, Chassitee, Chessity, Chessidy, Chasadee.  These and a great many more are variants of a very popular English language female personal name.  They all are apparently attempts to represent the word “chastity.”

One wonders how much people understand about the word if they cannot even be bothered to spell it correctly.  The English language word is derived ultimately from the Latin word “castus,” meaning “pure”.

Aldous Huxley humorously (I think) called chastity “the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions.”

An internet Google search brings up numerous attempts at a definition, most centering on the avoidance of sex.  The Christian understanding of the word can include that meaning but it is much more meaningful than that.  Remember that God viewed the Israelite’s attraction to other cultures and other gods as adultery against Himself. (Hosea 4; Ezekiel 16:35-42; Jeremiah 3:1, 13-14, and, in the New Testament, James 4:4)

The Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, said of the virtue, “The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one’s life towards a goal.”

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:23

"By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned," 2 Corinthians 6:6

"One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;" 1 Timothy 3:4

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:2

"That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience." Titus 2:2

"Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;" 1 Timothy 3:8

"Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things." 1 Timothy 3:11

“Sex in the Body of Christ” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/may/34.28.html

Written Georgian Was Created So That The Bible Could Be Read

Georgian is an ancient language spoken today by about 6 to 7 million people, with about 4 million of these in the country of Georgia.

There was no written form until 326 AD/CE, when the conversion of the Georgian aristocracy to Christianity led to a desire for a Georgian translation of the Bible. The written form of Georgian is similar in construction and function to Aramaic, the literary language of pagan Georgia.

The oldest surviving literary work in Georgian is the "Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik" (Georgian: წამებაჲ წმიდისა შუშანიკისი დედოფლისაჲ, Tsamebay tsmidisa Shushanikisi dedoplisay) by Iakob Tsurtaveli, from the 5th century AD.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Dinesh D’Souza: (b. 1961, India) American author and public speaker, political commentator.  Roman Catholic.

Abundias: (b. Spain - d. 854) Martyr. Roman Catholic parish priest in the village of Ananelos, Spain, near Cordoba.  He was beheaded and his body was thrown to hungry dogs.

Nicola Gruevski: (b. 1970, Macedonia) Banker, elected Prime Minister of Macedonia in 2006. Macedonian Orthodox.

Hassan Sharif Lubenga (b. ca 1958, Uganda) Former Muslim extremist who converted to Christianity after having dreams and visions of Jesus.  He fled to Kenya for his personal safety. He was a sheikh of Buk Haram, a violent group similar to the Nigerian Boko Haram (Hausa = “western education is sinful”).

Isidora Barankis (d. ca. 369, Egypt) One of the first “holy fools.”  A nun at the convent in Tabenissi (on the upper Nile River) in Egypt.  She lived a life of absolute humility and pretended to be insane.  Eventually she left the convent to live in the desert. Eastern Orthodox.

Christians

Chiang Ching-kuo (B. 1910, China –d. 1988)  President of the Republic of China 1978-1988.  Methodist.

Titus (fl. 1^st century) A Gentile Christian who was a convert and later a friend and emissary of Paul. Paul sent him on several specific missions.  Galatians 2:3, 1 Corinthians 1-6, 2 Corinthians 2:13, 7:5-16, chapter 8, the book of Titus, 2 Timothy 4:10.  He was accepted as Paul’s spokesman.

Horatio Gates Spafford:  (b. 1828, New York (USA) – d. 1888) Attorney, investor, philanthropist, hymnist.  After all four of his daughters died in a shipwreck he wrote the words to the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.”  He, his wife, and their subsequent children worked for years in Jerusalem providing soup kitchens, hospitals, and orphanages.  He died in Jerusalem.  “I am glad to trust the Lord when it will cost something.”

Tiana Anpo Win Spotted Thunder (b. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota (USA), aka: Tasiyagmuka Ho Waste Win; Good Voice Meadowlark  Woman)  Singer in English and Lakota.

Melchior Grodziecki (b. ca 1582, Poland – d. 1619) Jesuit priest, military chaplain,  and martyr.  Beheaded by Transylvanian troops in Kosice.

Wearing a Cross As Jewelry

“It would have been unthinkable in Jesus’ day to wear a cross as a piece of jewelry.  It would have been like wearing a miniature electric chair or lynching rope.” John Piper

The cross was used for only one purpose: execution.

Jesus called for us to take up our own cross and follow Him.   What is being executed?  Our self-centeredness, our insistence that we are in control, our self-justification that we are not “that bad.”

When we choose to follow Jesus and take up the cross, it can mean much more.  The world did not like Jesus and it will not like us, regardless of what it may say.  We may, in some countries, be guaranteed freedom of religious choice.  That will not prevent us from being considered odd or peculiar when we insist on choices other than those of the larger culture.  Social disapproval can be quite uncomfortable. (Hebrews 13:12-13)

AND, there is always the possibility, even in the most “enlightened” cultures, that we may be forced into a situation where we must choose between betraying the Lord or facing death.  At such a time, we are called to be witnesses.  Witness, μάρτυρας in Greek, from which we derive our English word “martyr.”

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

James Harrington: (b. 1847, England – d. 1885)  Anglican Bishop martyred in Buganda (Uganda) 1885 at the orders of King Mwanga II.

Mwanga II: (b. 1868, Buganda –d. 1903, Seychelles; aka: Danieri Bassammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa) Mwanga, the 31^st Kabaka of Buganda, ordered the assassination of Anglican Bishop James Harrington in 1885.  After a troubled rule, he was deposed in exile in 1897.  In 1899, he became a convert to the Anglican Church.

Frank Miller: (b. 1957, Maryland, USA)  Comic book writer and artist (300; The Dark Knight; Sin City), actor, film director, screenwriter. Roman Catholic.

Oz Fox: (b. 1961, California, USA; aka: Richard Alfonso Martinez) Vocalist and guitarist for the Christian hard-rock music group Stryper.

Karl Kmetko: Roman Catholic Bishop of Nitra, Slovakia in 1942. Kmetko favored the expulsion of Jews from Slovakia and their extermination by the Germans unless they converted to Christianity. 

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.  They are included under their most commonly known name. Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Mortimer Cherry: (b. 1925, Alabama, USA – d. 2012; aka: “Mort”) U.S. Marine Corp veteran, steelworker, deacon.  Baptist.

Saint Apollonia: (d. 249, Alexandria, Egypt) Virgin martyr.  Since all of her teeth were violently broken and pulled out during her martyrdom, she is regarded as the patron saint of dentists by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and the Copts.  She jumped into the fire which the mob built to burn her.

Jennifer Carole Ledger: (b. 1989, United Kingdom) Drummer and vocalist in the Christian rock music band, Skillet.

Adam of Eynsham: (b.ca. 1155, England – d. after 1233)  Roman Catholic monk, abbot of Eynsham Abbey, historian, hagiographer.

Phoebe: (fl. 1^st century AD/CE Greece) Phoebe is mentioned only in Romans 16:1,2.  She was either the first, or one of the first deaconesses.  She was serving the church in Cenchrae (the modern village of Kechries, Greece), the port town of the city of Corinth (the modern city of Korinthos, Greece).   Paul sent Phoebe to carry his letter (Romans) to the church at Rome. 

"The New York Same-Sex Marriage Vote" Revisited #3

On 28 June 2011, I posted "The New York Same-Sex Marriage Vote" and promised, "More on tax-exempt status, homosexuality, persecution, and marriage later."  Today, persecution.

The first persecution specifically of "Christians" came under the Roman Emperor Nero in 64 AD/CE.  Claudius in 49 persecuted Christians because he thought they were Jews.  Over the years it has never really stopped, whether it has been overt or more subtle.

Persecution takes many forms; it is not always whips and chains and burnings.  Social disapproval, economic interference, litigation, and other forms of harassment can be very effective.  The world at large does not share our values.

"Martyr," from the Greek word, μάρτυρας, means "witness." Christians don't have a tradition of seeking to be martyrs.  We do have a tradition of at least some of us not flinching when called upon to witness.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Andrew Stanton: (b. 1965, Massachusetts, USA) Film director, screenwriter, producer, voice actor. Two Academy Awards (Best Animated Feature) for Finding Nemo and Wall-E.

Vladislaus III Dracul: (b. 1431, Wallachia (Romania) – d. 1477; aka: Vlad Dracula; Vlad the Impaler; Vlad Tepes) Prince of the Romanian principality of Wallachia.  The family crest was a dragon hanging down from a cross.  In Latin “draco” means dragon, in Romanian it means “devil.”  Romanians and others in the region remember him as a Christian prince who repelled the Ottoman advance into Romania.  He was praised for this by Pope Pius II, who also criticized his methods.

When Ottoman envoys refused to remove their caps in his presence, he had their caps nailed to their heads and sent them back to their Sultan, Mehmet  II.  When mehmet II lead his forces to the outskirts of Tirgoviste, he saw “the Forest of the Impaled,” 20,000 Turkish prisoners impaled through their bodies on sharp poles sticking up out of the ground.  He signed his name as “Drakula” or “Drakulya.” To much of the world ,he is considered to have been brutal and sadistic and he is the real-life inspiration for the fictional vampire character, Count Dracula.  Roman Catholic.

http://www.bucovine.com/en/pages/vlad_tepes.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vlad_Tepes_002.jpg

Y-Ben Hok: In 2008, Y-Ben Hok, the pastor of a 132 member Ede tribe Christian congregation, was arrested in Vietnam and died in police custody.  The official report was that he committed suicide.

Johann von Staupnitz (b. ca. 1469, Saxony – d. 1524)  He was the vicar general of the Augustinian Order in Germany and a personal friend of the monk, Martin Luther.  He never became a Protestant and complained of the uproar the movement caused within the Roman Catholic Church.

Kim Shin-Jo: In 1968, North Korean Kim Shin-Jo was a member of a thirty-one person assassination squad sent into South Korea to kill President Park Chung-Hee.  Kim was the only one of the assassins to survive the attack.  North Korea executed his parents after he became a South Korean citizen in 1970 and converted to Christianity.  He eventually became the pastor at Sungrak Sambong Church in Gyeongg- do.

Martyrs in Baghdad

On 31 October 2010, members of al-Qaeda in Iraq ran into the Church of our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad taking the worshippers hostage.  Armed with assault rifles, hand grenades, and suicide vests, the attackers said their action was in retaliation for the “treatment of Muslim women in Egypt” where they claimed that Muslim women were being held captive in Coptic churches,  The terrorists called the Syro-Catholic/Chaldean church a “filthy den of polytheism” and styled themselves “lions of montheism.”  Christian and Muslim leaders have condemned the attack as barbaric.

During a rescue attempt by Iraqi forces, a severe gun battle erupted in which fifty-eight people were killed (including two priests and ten policemen) and 75 were wounded.  Five of the terrorists were captured.

On 9 November 2010, the church held it's first service after the attack.   There were no pews so everyone stood around the hundreds of candles which had been placed to form a large cross.  The service was led by Father Mukhlas Habash with bullet holes, bomb burns, and blood spatters still on the walls.

I believe that the walls should never be cleaned or repaired.  This is the blood of martyrs. 

Ismailis in Najran, Saudi Arabia Honor Their History

Najran is a booming city in Saudi Arabia.  From a population of only 47,500 in 1974, it has erupted to an official population of 246,880 in the 2004 census (some believe the actual count may be 500,000).  Most of the inhabitants are of the Banu Yam tribe and are Ismaili Shiites.  This means that they accept Ismail ibn Jafar ( the Ismailis) as the successor to Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, rather than Ismail's brother, Musa al-Kazim (the Twelvers).  The Ismailis are more metaphysical and mystical than the Twelvers.

About 524 AD/CE, the Jewish king of Himyar (South Arabia), Yusuf As'ar Dhu Nuwas (aka Yusuf As'ar Yathar) invaded the area and demanded that the Christian inhabitants become Jews.  When they refused, as many as 20,000 were martyred by being thrown into fiery ditches and burned to death.  Charred bones have been found during excavations of what locals call "al ukhdood," "the trenches."

The modern Ismailis of Najran are outsiders, considered to be heretics by Sunni Muslims.  They consider the Christian martyrs to have been heroes and one modern Najrani clearly stated how they feel. "This story means so much to us.  Our life and our struggle today comes from those martyrs who gave their lives for their beliefs."

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog. 

Cecil M. Whitmire: (b. Tennessee –d. 2010, aged 74) Hardware business executive, theater organist.  With his wife, Linda, he is credited with organizing and heading the salvation and restoration pf the Alabama Theater, which was in danger of being demolished in 1987.  It is now a fully restored old-style movie and stage-show theater.  Methodist.

Herbert Evan Zeiger, Jr.: (b. 1949, Alabama – d. 2010) Neurosurgeon, spinal surgeon, aviator, Christian Medical Mission of Alabama. Baptist.  He and his wife perished in a small plane crash.

Necati Aydin: (Murdered 2007, aged 36) Martyr, actor, seminary graduate, pastor, Bible publisher.  He and two other men were attacked, tortured, and murdered in their Bible publishing house in Malatya, Turkey by several Muslim men.

Teshima Ikuro: (b. 1910, Japan – d. 1973; aka: Teshima Abraham Ikuro, Abraham Ikuro Teshima) Founder of the Makuya (Holy Tabernacle) Movement.  The Makuyas insist that they are a return to original Hebraic Christianity and are Zionists with an emphasis on encountering God in everyday life.  Their sacred symbol is the Menorah rather than the Cross.

Theognis of Nicea: (fl 4^th century) Bishop of Nicea.  Theognis was an Arian who reluctantly signed the Nicene Creed.  Three months after the Council, he was excommunicated and exiled for his lukewarm condemnation of Arius.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian. Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions. This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Richard Crankathorpe: (b. 1567, England - d. 1624) Calvinist Anglican churchman. Apologist, writer on metaphysics and logic.

Liezel van der Merwe: (fl. 2009) Managing editor of the Afrikaans language Christian sex magazine, Intiem (Intimacy).

Isaac Shelby (b. 1750, Maryland – d. 1826) First and fifth Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Veteran of the War of 1812. Presbyterian.

Leo Allatius: (b. 1587/1588, Greece – d. 1669)

Ivan Timofeevitch Voronaev: (b. 1885, United States – d. ca 1929) Voronaev introduced pentacostalism into Russia and established over 350 churches in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, and the United States. He was eventually arrested by the Soviet police and is believed to have died in a prison in Siberia. He was therefore a martyr.

     Pope Benedict has announced that bone fragments found in a white marble sarcophagus under the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls (Rome) have been dated to the late First Century or early Second Century.  The burial box contained bones, incense, blue cloth, and purple linen.  The site is the traditional burial place of the Apostle Paul and a cracked marble slab found there says in Latin, "Paul apostle martyr."  

      Church tradition says that Paul was beheaded in Rome.  It is claimed that bone fragments from his head are enshrined in Rome at St. John Lateran Basilica.  It would be very interesting to see if DNA analysis indicated that the bones from the two sites came from the same person.  It would be a strong indication that the bones might actually be from Paul.  It would not be proof.

       

Kindling

"Some ministers would make good martyrs; they are so dry they would burn well."

Charles Hadden Spurgeon (1844-1892) English Calvinist Baptist preacher and writer.