I Had Such an Exceptional Day on Sunday

On Sunday Stacy and Rob Moltz, along with their children Samara and Makiya,  and I made the trip to Plano, Texas to hear Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad speak.  He was speaking at Christ Church, there in Plano, and the service was quite amazing.

The music was tremendous, and included a violin solo of the theme from the movie Schindler's List, and I have never heard such beautiful violin music.  Brother Andrew gave away two of the devices which his ministry in Iraq is presenting to those persecuted Christians who have lost everything.  It was, I know, of such importance to those who received it.  The Christians of Iraq have lost everything in this present tragedy taking place in their country, including their Bibles, which have been confiscated and burned.  The device was a solar powered electronic Bible, which also would use sound to read aloud the Bible to the listener.  Our own Makiya received one of those gifts, and was so thrilled.

Brother Andrew spoke from a text in Romans which is among my favorites:

¹⁷ and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

From Groans to Glory

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 

Certainly the Christians of all the Middle East are suffering at this time, and when they mourn, we mourn with them.  It was so moving to hear Brother Andrew pray in Aramaic, the language in which Jesus preached to the multitudes.  He spoke of the joy in which his congregation worship  on Sundays, despite the circumstances they find themselves enduring.  He told of how they proclaim, "when everything is taken away, still we have Jesus."  He told also of the broken hearts of  the people who have lost loved ones in horrific acts of violence committed by ISIS.  He told of how the children of one Christian family were told they must renounce their faith or die, and those children refused and were killed and their bodies ran over with heavy equipment in front of their parents.  May God deliver the world from such calloused violence quickly!  Daily I spend time in prayer for the Christians of Iraq, and I pray for those who are left behind, not those who have been martyred,  for they go immediately to our Lord in Heaven, never again to know sorrow, pain, death, or fear.  It is those who remain, who must deal with the atrocities inflicted upon these gentle people with whom I grieve. 

As always Brother Andrew's attention was drawn to the children in the congregation, and both Samara and Makiya were so impressed with the message and moved at the plight of Christians in Iraq, understanding that their persecution is because of their faith in God.  It is always impressive to anyone who learns that the Christians in the Mosul area are the reminent of the church established by Jonah, as in Jonah and the great fish, at Nineveh, so many thousands of years ago. 

Not only did we get to see Brother Andrew, but my dear Sister Sarah was there and we had such joy in meeting in person for the first time.  Brother Andrew has promised to come to Houston to see us, and our local NBC affiliate will be interviewing him, so if you live in the area plan to watch.  He also will be speaking at  churches in the area.   As Makiya kept telling his dad, "we are going to need to get some bigger churches."  

 

Sometimes, Even and Old Woman Must Draw a Line, and Take a Stand

I must reshare this article I stumbled upon online.  I have discovered, in acute dismay that this young man who wrote this article which makes insinuations, and statements, represented falsely as fact, is a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention, I should have immediately noted that TGC stands for The Gospel Coalition, however, I have not felt so well lately.  Now to the point of line I am herewith drawing in the sand... CONCERNING CANON ANDREW WHITE, BECAUSE OF MY DEEPEST REGARD FOR THIS MAN, AND HIS SERVICE TO THE LORD FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ,  I HAVE GOT HIS BACK, WHEN HIS ARMS TIRE, I CAN AND WILL LIFT THEM UP.  IF ANYONE PERSECUTES OR ATTEMPT MALIGN HIM, WE ARE GOING TO DANCE. I am old enough to be this young man's mother... and to those of you who know me well, you know I have skills in that area.  The author of this article needs rebuking in the love of Christ, we all do sometimes.  He repeatedly keeps lying.  I do not think that he intended to do so in the beginning.  I feel that he was trying to establish a platform of restraint, and then his ego got in the way.  Unfortunately that is not the needed area of emphasis in this matter.  Only about half of my comments are posted, despite the fact that he has repeatedly assured all readers that the only things which will block a post are vulgar abusive language, or links to sites with graphic violent pictures of the carnage.  (note, the image below was posted by him.)  The problem that I encountered with this piece was the unsupported innuendos toward two of God's servants who have devoted their lives in service and support to the people of Iraq.  He made the most absurd accusation against Cannon Andrew White under the fire of many, many, negative reactions to his article.  He stated that the reason he believes that Cannon White should not be considered a reliable source, despite his being in Iraq, is because due to Brother Andrew's influence and exaggerations concerning WMD in Iraq, and the overstatement of the persecution of Christians, the United States was influenced to enter into a war in Iraq.  Randy belly laughed when I told him that, and by the way, in 2003 his clearance was "top secret security clearance," as he was involved in studies at the Army War College for his Master's Degree in Strategic Studies.  I want any attackers of Canon Andrew White to understand, I may not be able to spank a three month old kitten and win...physically,  but I too have journalistic skills.  Threaten or harm in any way this man of God or his reputation, who has poured out his heart in the love of Jesus Christ for the people of Iraq and we are verbally going to dance.

Here is the link to the post which appears on the The Gospel Coalition, which I normally would praise.  I must also make this disclaimer, I have long been a Southern Baptist, and this man does not in this article accurately represent the average Southern Baptist, he has allowed his ego to mar his testimony.

 http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-is-isis-beheading-children-in-iraq


I will be posting my responses here, as I have no confidence they will be posted on this article.