Paul Long's Ramblings

Pastor's notes for the 31 July 2011 bulletin To read click HERE

Sad for us. Wonderful for him. 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 Wednesday, July 27, 2011 John Stott Receives His Reward By Brian Nixon Special to ASSIST News Service ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO   (ANS)  --  The Christian Church has lost one of its greatest leaders: John Stott. Uncle John, as many called him, went to be with his Lord on Wednesday, July 27th at 3:15 in London. He was 90 years old. John Stott pictured in the English Lake District during the famous Keswick Convention where he was a regular featured speaker His life will be missed. But his wisdom and love of God lives on through his books and teachings.Several years back I wrote an article on Mr. Stott's influence in my life when I heard the news of his retirement. I release it again in his honor. The article was entitled, Heroes. Heroes Ok, I admit it! I am a fan. ...

Digging Into Our Spiritual Resources When someone hurts us, offends us, ignores us, or rejects us, a deep inner protest emerges.  It can be rage or depression, desire to take revenge or an impulse to harm ourselves.  We can feel a deep urge to wound those who have wounded us or to withdraw in a suicidal mood of self-rejection.  Although these extreme reactions might seem exceptional, they are never far away from our hearts.  During the long nights we often find ourselves brooding about words and actions we might have used in response to what others have said or done to us. It is precisely here that we have to dig deep into our spiritual resources and find the center within us, the center that lies beyond our need to hurt others or ourselves, where we are free to forgive and love.

From Barnabas Fund Published:  Wednesday 20 July 2011 INVESTIGATION EXPOSES MUSLIM CAMPAIGN TO CONVERT CHRISTIAN GIRLS IN  EGYPT Country:  EGYPT , MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA An Egyptian human rights organisation has exposed a highly organised Muslim ring that promotes sexual exploitation and blackmail to force Christian girls to convert to Islam. Egypt4Christ, which monitors the abduction and forced Islamisation of Christian minors, published the findings in a new report last week. It launched an undercover investigation after a church leader in Alexandria reported that a ten-year-old Christian girl had been sexually abused by a 20-year-old Muslim university student. Alexandria, where the Muslim ring was uncovered CC BY-NC 3.0  by  Henk Goossens The group discovered that a highly organised Muslim ring based at a mosque in Alexandria are orchestrating a systematic campaign in which they urge young Muslim males in high school and university to approach C...

Interesting, the UMNO sanctioned "obedient wives club"  wants to start a branch in NZ. Hope the Sisters in Islam gain more ground.  On the obedient wives club, go HERE  and HERE and HERE (Last link is the best) See report from NZ Herald below    Burqa an affront to human dignity say Muslim women By  Lincoln Tan 5:30 AM Thursday Jul 21, 2011 A Muslim women's group is expected to tell a public forum tonight that the burqa is not a requirement in Islam and it is "an affront to human dignity" for women to be forced to wear it. This month, a Saudi Arabian student was left crying on an Auckland street when a bus driver refused to let her board because she was wearing a Muslim veil, which she refused to remove. This brought a call from Prime Minister John Key for New Zealanders to respect the beliefs of others, and for women not to be discriminated against because they wear the burqa. But the Sisters in Islam say Islam has now laws making wearing ...

"We can of course shake off the burden which is laid upon us, but only find that we have a still heavier burden to carry -- a yoke of our own choosing, the yoke of our self. But Jesus invites all who travail and are heavy laden to throw off their own yoke and take his yoke upon them -- and his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. The yoke and burden of Christ are his cross." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Pastor's notes for the 24th July 2011 bulletin To read, click HERE Tough one to write using 320 words ....

"It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a sparrow can hear that story of the killing of God told Sunday after Sunday and not experience any shock at all." -  Dorothy Sayers

My pastor's notes for 17 July 2011 bulletin To read, click HERE

Thanks to my mum for her old camera (but new camera)! Some random photos I took over the last few weeks. Thought it time to upload to de-stress ... Latest baby member of our church - Austen Puah My first experimental batch of baked golden potatoes. Looks messy but tastes  delightful First night of the June Greg Laurie Rally in Auckland First night at the Greg Laurie Rally - 30 minutes before the start. over 2,000 people had to be turned away due to the massive crowd (and it was raining cats and dogs too. I arrived 2.5 hours before  the start to report for duty and it took me over an hour to get in. I was soaked standing in the rain 2nd attempt at making muffins, This time I had the sense to use cup cake paper in my  baking tray. But it still turned out looking horrible. Taste was good though :-) My first try at making siew pau. Looks decent and was actually tasty BUT it did not taste like siew pau at all. Texture all wrong. But since it was...

An interesting article (for me at least) from "Out of UR"  July 11, 2011 Pastoral Authority: Earned, Taken, or Granted? It depends who you ask. by David Swanson Pastor . In the eight years since this label first applied to me, it has been fascinating to notice who uses it and who doesn’t. The church that first entrusted the title to me was suburban, predominately white, and largely middle-aged. As a twenty-something associate pastor, I was mostly referred to by my first name. The lack of a title before my name suited me fine. At the time I was coming to grips with being a pastor and, frankly, the idea of regularly being identified as such by people ten to twenty years my senior was frightening. In hindsight I realize there was something more to my timidity about this title. Being identified as a pastor carried with it a level of intimidating responsibility and authority that I felt I didn’t deserve. Surely I needed another ten years or so in the trenches before anyone ...

Something to view, think and pray about .... This is a good video put up of Malaysia Boleh! Both the positive,i.e. the people of Malaysia, and the negative, i.e. the BN led authorities. But I do think the video does show that NOT ALL the police there that day were happy doing what they were ordered to do so. Here's a blog post that I think is worth reading. Click HERE And of course information from RPK's many sources. Click HERE

No place here for burqa By  Paul Holmes Mask wearers want no part of the West except our privileges. EXPAND Even the most reasonable Kiwi will tell you they hate the full-face covering. Photo / Greg Bowker To hell with the burqa. It has no place here. This is my considered opinion after giving the matter extensive thought. It really is an offensive piece of medieval kit that speaks of medievalism and religious extremism. Actually, I use the word burqa loosely. Everyone does. The burqa is actually the entire - generally black - covering enshrouding the clothes a woman has underneath it. And in fact, in the countries where Islam reigns, they tend to have stalled in their development several hundreds of years ago so the general cleanliness of their communities - and by that I mean the dust flying round and the rubbish people discard - and the burqa helps keeps your clothes cleaner for longer. This was my observation in Yemen. But in this country the burqa seems to be an imprisonme...