Morning Mashup 9/26

Jesus Is Not Your Sin Manager – Owen Strachan: “What comes to mind when you think of the word ‘financial debt?’ College loans? Low-budget TV commercials? Interminable stress and prolonged discouragement? These are all possible, and understandable, responses. Here’s another one: Jesus Christ.”

Does God Hate Cotton Blend T-Shirts? – Mark Driscoll discusses how much of the law is still binding on Christians today and shows just how relevant this discussion has become in our culture.

Evangelical Adoption Movement Attacked…Again – Jonathan Merritt: “Criticizing the evangelical adoption movement seems to be all the rage these days.” Merritt shows how groundless these attacks are. He closes with this quote from David French, “To many on the left, if you are conservative then there is nothing you can do that is virtuous. Even the good that you do will be dismissed as cynical or destructive.”

Free Saeed: A Wife’s Plea to Iran’s President – Nahgmeh Abedini: “Thursday marks one year since Iran imprisoned my husband, Pastor Saeed Abedini, for his Christian faith. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrested Saeed without warning and took him to the notorious Evin Prison, I could not have imagined the journey God had planned for us — a journey still without a finish line in sight.”

Is Football Too Violent for Christians? – David Prince and Jimmy Scroggins respond to Owen Strachan’s article in which he questions whether Christians should watch, support, and play football due to the high level of violence inherent to the sport. Prince and Scroggins take the opposite position in which they see the possibility for football to be a sort of prepping ground for gospel ministry. This is an interesting debate that I am following and I admire these men on both sides for addressing an important issue for many fathers, mothers, and sons.

Hey Worship Leader, Are You a Theological Lightweight? – “Let’s face it, in the world of vocational ministry, the terms ‘theologically astute’ and ‘music guy’ don’t typically meet, fall in love and get married. And this is not ok.”

We must take heed that we do not so gaze upon ourselves to find graces in our own hearts as thereby we forget those Acts of Faith, whereby we close with Christ immediately, and rely upon him only for our Justification –Anthony Burgess

 

U.S. Warned by Syrian President: Interview with Bashar al Assad

CBS’ Charlie Rose sat down with Syrian President Bashar al Assad to ask him some crucial questions pertaining to the use of chemical weapons in Syria as well as the possibility of an American strike. The entire interview will air on PBS tonight at 9 pm (EDT).

Here are a few excerpts from Assad’s answers in this interview:

Assad denies his involvement in the chemical attack on August 21: “We’re not there. Our forces, our police, our institutions don’t exist. How can you talk about what happened if you don’t have evidences? We’re not like the American administration. We’re not social media administration or government. We are the government that deal with reality.”

“The Russians have completely opposite evidence that the missiles were thrown from area where the rebels controlled.”

“This is the war that is going to support Al Qaeda and the same people that kill Americans on the 11 of September…The second thing that we all want to tell to the Congress, that they should ask and that what we expect, we expect them to ask this administration about the evidence that they have regarding the chemical story and the allegations that they presented.”

The most chilling part of the entire interview: 

Rose: “Will there be attacks against American bases in Middle East if there is an airstrike?”

Assad: “You should expect everything. Not necessarily from the government. It’s not only—the government are not the only player in this region. You have different parties, you have different factions, you have different ideology. You have everything in this region now. So you have to expect that.”

Rose: “Including chemical warfare?”

Assad: “That depends if the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any other group have it, it could happen I don’t know. I am not fortune teller to tell you what’s going to happen.”

Rose gets more specific, asking if Syrian allies Russia, Iran, or Hezbollah could be expected to respond.

Assad: “It may take different forms, direct and indirect. Direct when people wants to retaliate—or governments. Indirect when we’re going to have instability and the spread of terrorism all over the region that will influence the West directly.”

I don’t know about you, but this interview was less than comforting; not that I expected anything more than what I saw. But there seemed to be a gangster-like vibe to his answers and demeanor throughout this interview. He basically said, “Now, I am not saying we will retaliate, but you better not do it.” I sense a cold subliminal threat in his voice. And whether this is a bluff or not is irrelevant, because his repeated reference to 9/11 was chilling enough without his “expect everything” warning. I may be naive, but from this interview I do not see the practicality in a limited strike being the only American military influence in Syria in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Praying for our president and our representatives in Congress.

Morning Mashup 9/6

Manning Makes History – The NFL season kicked off with a bang last night as the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens began their title defense in Denver to face the resurgent Broncos. Last season all we heard was questions and speculations regarding Peyton Manning’s health after returning from a season-ending neck injury. Well, Manning officially sealed those speculations and has put them away to never be revisited with his performance in the Mile High city last night. Manning was at the top of his game, tying an NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes. Yes, seven! The significance of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed was felt more in their absence from the field last night than in their previous presence. The Ravens will miss them more than I thought. Manning is on pace to have a record-breaking season. But it is still early. No matter how you slice it, though, Peyton Manning proved last night why some call him the greatest regular season quarterback of all time. For his sake and the sake of the Broncos, I hope he can culminate this kind of regular season success in the playoffs. One thing is clear. Manning has set the bar for the 2013 NFL season. Watch every single one of Manning’s seven TD passes here (ignore the strange piano instrumental)!

Iran Plots Revenge – The Wall Street Journal reports, “The U.S. has intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in Baghdad in the event of a strike on Syria, officials said, amid an expanding array of reprisal threats across the region.”

War Vote in Trouble – The Huffington Post reports that things are not looking good for a war vote in the House of Representatives. The voices of constituents are being heard. “A resolution authorizing military force against Syria barely made it out of the hawkish Senate Foreign Relations Committee — with the majority of Republicans opposing it — and now is facing withering skepticism in Congress. While the Senate appears poised to come to some type of agreement, the ‘People’s House,’ as it is known, is showing much more reluctance to approve the deeply unpopular bombing resolution. ‘Peace may well have a chance,’ said one top House GOP aide.”

How to Criticize a Preacher – We all do it. Some of us criticize to a fault and it is not helpful. David Murray shows us how to criticize well.

Ten Perils of Prosperity – “We must be very careful of prosperity. It has a way of deluding us into thinking that we can afford anything and that we can absorb any shock. For seven decades this has been true. But now we have changed our thinking and our planning and our savings as we ignore the possibility of real economic disaster: Beware.”

FYI (If You’re A Teenage Girl) – A mother is on the prowl caring for her boys. In this post, Kim Hall exposes the evil that is Facebook seduction through pictures (“selfies”). She calls for sexual purity, modesty, and discusses the worth of young girls, which is not on display when they take sexually suggesting pictures of themselves. Hall writes,

“I know your family would not be thrilled at the thought of my teenage boys seeing you only in your towel. Did you know that once a male sees you in a state of undress, he can’t quickly un-see it?  You don’t want our boys to only think of you in this sexual way, do you?

Neither do we. We’re all more than that.”

Have a great morning and have a blessed day in the Lord!

“We can never distrust ourselves too much”–J.I. Packer

Unreached Peoples: 7/14

AZERI TURK OF IRAN

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 4:4-6

Look at the picture of this man and realize the reality of these statistics. These are not mere numbers. They are numbers that represent realities; eternal realities. Your response will have eternal implications. God’s sovereign work in salvation works in and through the instrument of prayer. The fervent prayers of faithful saints are crucial. Now, read carefully and let these stats sink in as the truth of 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 weighs on your heart. There is so much sobering reality and joyful and glorious truth in these beautifully contrasting verses. Satan blinds. God gives sight. These people are blind. You have the light of the gospel. Let it shine and ultimately pray for God to perform a miracle.

Population: 14,816,000

Language: South Azerbaijani

Religion: Islam

% Professing Christians: 0.02

% Evangelical Christians: 0.00

Access to Bible: None

Access to Jesus Film: None

Progress: 1.1

Persecution Rank: 5 (1 = highest out of 50 ranked nations)

Status: Unreached

10/40 Window: Yes

Brief Information

In Iran the term “Azeri” is used formally for these people; however, informally, Azeris and other Turkic speaking Iranian populations are colloquially referred to as “Tork” (Turk). Despite some friction in the past, Azerbaijanis in Iran came to be “well represented at all levels of political, military, and intellectual hierarchies, as well as the religious hierarchy.” The living conditions of Azeris in Iran closely resemble that of Persians.

Ministry Obstacles
The region of Iran and Azerbaijan does not offer easy access to Christian workers.

Outreach Ideas
The Lord is calling many to His name in Iran. Perhaps Iranian believers will make opportunity to carry the good news of Jesus to the Azeris. Pray the Azeris won’t be overlooked by the movement of the Lord’s Spirit in Iran.

Pray for the followers of Christ
There are a few believers in Christ among the Azeris of Iran at present; pray they will grow both in numbers and in degree of commitment to know and follow Christ. They need prayer support, and they need to fellowship together.

Pray for the entire people group
Pray the Azeris of Iran will increasingly be drawn to Isa (Jesus) as he is referred to in the Koran. Pray for growing interest in this Man, for a desire to find out more. Pray this interest will be met with a growing availability of the Gospel of Christ.

May all the earth praise the name of our great Redeemer. May all the peoples praise the glory of God’s unconditional and loving grace. Open their eyes Father. Gaze into their dead hearts and command, “Let there be light!” The spiritual eyes of these unbelieving Azeri Turks are blinded by the god of this world. Pray to the One who gives sight to the blind to shine the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God’s glory was ultimately illuminated in the Person of Jesus Christ. Pray that the nations would praise His glory. Be actively involved in extending the glory of God to unreached people groups like the Azeri Turks who do not know the glorious Savior.

Information and images courtesy of Joshua Project

See also Operation World

By His Grace – For His Glory – For our Joy