Paul Long's Ramblings

Down memory lane - so nice to get my Don Francisco CDs yesterday. My favourite Don Francisco album.

With so much negative news in the Middle East especially religious persecution of Christians by Muslim extremists, it is so wonderful to get this news item, which I think needs to be highlighted as another example of courageous Egyptian Muslims who refuse to be influenced by Islamic extremists. I think it is very significant to read about Muslim craftsmen helping repair Christian religious icons! ASSIST News Service (ANS) -  PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA Visit our web site at:  www.assistnews.net  -- E-mail:  assistnews@aol.com Friday, May 27, 2011 Egypt's Regime Orders Church Restoration Many Muslim craftsmen are helping By Dan Wooding Founder of ASSIST Ministries CAIRO, EGYPT   (ANS)  --  CBN News ( www.cbn.com/cbnnews ) is reporting that some Egyptian Muslims are helping Christians rebuild a church building attacked by radical Islamists earlier this month. Egyptians gather as firefighters extinguish a fire at St. Mary'...

Tomorrow I fly back To Auckland. My short trip here is almost over. It's almost over and kind of sad ... but looking forward as well to going back to NZ for obvious reasons :-) Think I have put on weight - according to my mum's weighing scales ... but she told me that her electronic scales is actually unreliable - makes one seem heavier. Hope so LOL Heard from some people that there were some "questions" as to why I was so secretive about my trip and a "little unhappiness" over "not wanting to meet up" with most people here (many who are people I consider good friends). So here's some reasons for those who do not already know (not that I need to explain myself :-) but I think they are helpful things to consider. 1. Last couple of trips back to Malaysia was exhausting and last one I even fell very sick. While it wonderful to catch up with friends etc., such activity packed trips home visits are not not helpful to my health. Not much of a...

Pastor's  notes for 15 May 2011 To read, click HERE

A pattern is emerging as in Egypt as warned much earlier by Christian leaders in Middle East Muslim countries.  "Pro democracy" activities are being hijacked to push a hard line  Islamic agenda. See the Barnabas Fund report below .... -------- Syrian Christians threatened: join anti-government uprising or leave Barnabas is helping Christians affected by the unrest As demonstrations against the Syrian government intensify, Christians are coming under increasing pressure to join the uprising - or leave. Syrian churches have received threatening letters calling them to join demonstrations Image:   Jan Smith  /  CC BY 2.0 In one Christian village outside the southern city of Deraa a home came under fire by a group of masked men on motorbikes, while Muslim residents in the village of Hala have issued an ultimatum to their Christian neighbours either to join the demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's regime or to leave. Their demands are makin...

I have not blogged in a while ... and was reading and commenting on a friend's blog and posted this (below)  in the comments section ... thought I would repost my own comments here even if the context might not make sense :-) A couple of days ago I saw an episode (rerun) of one of fav sitcoms (Home Improvement). Tim had an ethical dilemma as he was asked to promote an inferior tool (new line of Binford tools).  His new boss / owner (the founder and Tim's mentor, Binford had already passed away) refused to fix the inferior tool and Tim was given an ultimatum - promote the tool, endorse it on Tool Time or be sacked. To lose his job at Binford was more than just losing his TV show, drop in income etc but would force him to have to go back to the only other job he was good at - selling tools which meant long weeks away from his family. This time even Wilson could offer no help - he was left with the question - how important was this to him - the Binford quality / name, hi...

Pastor's Notes for 8 May 2011 To read, click HERE

This is disturbing and sad .... One child in four in single-parent home BRONWYN TORRIE Last updated 05:00 30/04/2011 Share Print Text Size New Zealand has the third-highest rate of children living in single-parent homes, an OECD study says. This means nearly one in four Kiwi children are growing up in single-parent homes as more marriages break up and single women choose to enter motherhood on their own. Of 27 industrialised countries, New Zealand ranked third in the Doing Better for Families study, with 23.7 per cent of children living in a one-parent household, compared with the 14.9 per cent average across all countries. The United States ranked first with 25.9 per cent and Ireland was second with 24.3 per cent. Children's Commissioner John Angus said Kiwi children were four times more likely to be living under the poverty line if they were being raised by a single parent. New Zealand's child poverty rate, at 12.2 per cent, is nearly on a par with the OECD average. Child ...

Interesting piece ... US Could Have Used bin Laden's Death to Expose Sympathizers Monday, May 2, 2011 01:05 PM By: Tawfik Hamid The issue of burial is very important in the Muslim mind. There is a special prayer over the body which is typically followed by burial in the dust. Burying in the Islamic way gives the close relatives and friends (or followers in case of bin Laden) psychological comfort that the person died as a Muslim and will go to the paradise. This concept has roots in the following verse "Quran 12:101 . . . O Thou Creator of the heavens and the earth! Thou art my Protector in this world and in the Hereafter. Take Thou my soul (at death) as a Muslim . . . " The punishment for early Muslims who refused to share in jihad was to forego the funeral prayer and not to bury them as Muslims (see Quran 9:84 Nor do thou ever pray for any of them [who refused to do Jihad] that dies, nor stand at his grave; for they rejected Allah and His Messenger, and died in a...