Pakistan Bans Jesus Christ Texting

The Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority has issued a list of 1,700 words it considers “offensive and obscene,” and has demanded that mobile providers begin filtering them from text messages as of Monday.

The demand letter said the order was legal under a 1996 law preventing people from sending information through the telecommunications system that is ‘false, fabricated, indecent or obscene’.

It also stated that free speech could be restricted ‘in the interest of the glory of Islam’, which explains why ‘Jesus Christ’ is on the banned list.

The Jars

By:  Vathan Shettigar from The CSF Nov 16 2011

The preacher placed two identical jars on the table next to the pulpit.  He quoted 1 Samuel 16:7 ‘The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”

These jars came from the same factory, were made of the same materials, and can hold the same amount. But they are different, he explained.

Then he upset one and

Duty Honor Country

Instruction

I remember getting on the bus heading to boot camp. The last ride before the Drill Sargent shouting started. Walking down the aisle there were lots of faces that didn’t look like mine. Lots of different colors and accents, none of which were familiar to this young scared farm boy. A bus full of long hair hippie types, gung-ho copycats following in their Dad’s footsteps and tough city kids – more than a few one police stop away from jail. Viet Nam as winding down but body bags were still being filled.  A bus full of individuals by chance heading in the same direction.

A few short weeks later, we were marching down the parade field. We marched as a team, a proud cohesive unit of One. Same uniform, same hair cut and we were all the same color – Army Green. We started Boot as individuals, boys mostly. We graduated that day as soldiers. In the following years of service to our country, most of us survived. Some didn’t.

To all the other Vets out there

Thank you for your service. May God Bless you.

From Boot I went on pilot Hueys for the 1st Cav Division

Heaven To Hell

By: A.J. Philip, Indian Currents 13 Novenber 2011

It is easy to level charges of abuse against anyone who runs an orphanage for girls.  This is precisely what seems to have happened at the orphanage run by P.P. Job in Coimbatore from where girls were “rescued”.  None of the children in question ever made any such allegations.

23 Karnali students left stranded

The Rising Nepal Nation, November 5  2011 | Kartik 19,   2068 B.S. Saturday

By A Staff reporter Kathmandu, Nov. 3

Twenty-three children of remote Karnali, who were studying at an India based Christian school, are left stranded in the capital after they were brought to Kathmandu by Esther Benjamin Trust Nepal.

The Bhakundol based trust brought the students to Nepal in the name of rescuing them from what it termed as “trafficking” of Nepali girls to India.

However, the parents of the students said that some representatives of the trust- an Indian citizen named Shailaja, and Dilu Tamang, Bhaskar Jung Karki and Nir Karki brought the students to

Kathmandu forcibly from the Michael Job Matriculation Higher Secondary School without informing them.

Speaking at the programme, Alina Chauhan, one of the students, said the people of the trust claimed that they were the representatives of Nepal Government and journalists and lawyers when they reached at the India based school.

Chauhan added that “Initially we refused to come with them but later agreed when they promised that they would return us back to our school after ten days.”

“The organization brought us on September 4 from the School. It has

hampered our study. We request that a strong punishment be given to the trust people who brought us here. We also need a good school to give continuity to our education,” the studentsdemanded.

The students had been getting free education at school and they would also get free university education in India, parents said.

Parents blamed that the organization had attempted to destroy the future and character of the students, all of who are girls. They also demanded for a proper legal action to be taken against the organization and better education for all the “rescued” students.

However, Anuradhara Koirala, chairperson of the Maiti Nepal, said that parents of three to four students had requested her organization to rescue their children from the India based school.

Meanwhile, Nir Karki of the trust said that Concerned for Working Children (CWC) of India had rescued all the students and then brought them to Nepal. It later handed them to the Nepalese police in Bhairahawa and the police then handed them over to their.

The trust had also filed the case at Supreme Court on Tuesday against the alleged traffickers, who took the Nepali girls to India.

Victims of EBT demand justice

This is  a news conference with some of the girls speaking out about what has happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQgrkGwCUHA

Even the Lone Ranger…

We’re into our second week of activation for Tina’s (left ear) Cochlear Implant. Things are going great!

Tina was born with severe hearing loss. She has used hearing aids since she was 3 years old. Last year she had a cochlear implant in her right ear.  It’s been a fantastic improvement.  A few weeks ago they did the same on her left ear.  About 2 weeks ago, after waiting for the surgery swelling to go down, they activated (turned on) the new implant.

A cochlear implant is very different from a hearing aid. Hearing aids amplify sounds so they may be detected by damaged ears. Cochlear implants bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Signals generated by the implant are sent by way of the auditory nerve to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sound. Hearing through a cochlear implant is different from normal hearing and takes time to learn or relearn. However, it allows many people to recognize warning signals, understand other sounds in the environment, and enjoy a conversation in person or by telephone.

So Tina is going through a big transition from relying on a hearing aid that simply amplifies, to trying to understand the direct stimulation of the hearing nerve in her brain.  Right now she’s reporting that everyone sounds like the Walt Disney  animated chipmunks – Chip and Dale – all high pitched and very, very funny.  It would be like everyone you hear has just inhaled helium before speaking.  It’s funny but it’s great as she works to ‘retrain’ her brain to hear a totally new way.  We have had some tremendous successes lately, like hearing the quiet ticking of a cherished heirloom mantle clock. We’ve also had some funny misinterpretations too.

Yesterday in church was a good example.  It took all my strength to keep from bursting out laughing during Pastor Brian’s sermon. He was talking about the importance of Partnership when determining ‘What It Takes To Fulfill A Dream.’ He said God never intended for us to ‘go it alone.’ That for us to accomplish His plans we must work in partnership with other Christians.  Ephesians 4:16 says, “The whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” He said that as the church , “We work together as partners who belong to God..”  As a way of illustration Brian said, “Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto!”

Tina turned to me with a confused look on her face. In a whisper she asked me, “What does he mean, even the Long Ranger has nachos?  Why would the Lone Ranger need nachos?”  As I tried to stifle laughing out very loud, I sign language, finger spelled – T o n t o  - to her..  Ahhhhhh Tonto – got it, she said..

My prayer today is that in the same way Tina is learning to hear anew, we all will, be still, listen intently and hear God’s still, small voice more accurately.

Building…

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (New International Version)

¹⁰By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. ¹⁴If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

I am concerned about my current (external and internal) building program.  Being a lazy person, I hate to waste time building things that won’t last.  What will the testing fire reveal of my past work and future plans.  What do I need to change so that what I am doing is built to last.  Internally, with Christ as my foundation, what is meant by the gold, silver and costly stones I should be using?  Externally, how can I become the ‘expert builder’ so that those to whom I am responsible are built up – in Him.  Time to find out…

Checking In Decision

Life is a many things. One of these things is decisions.  Life is made up of decisions.This morning as I was sitting down to start the day, I was making the decision, should I read the Bible now or check my email first.  With my ministry work in India, most of what goes on over there is done while I’m sleeping.  So there are often important emails waiting for me when I start the day.  Of course there are many who would probably agree that the same thing happens over here too…

Which should I do – study God’s word or find out what’s going on in my little email world?  If I believe God REALLY IS the author and creator of the Universe. If I truly committed my life to Him, to serve Him. If I REALLY believe He is my Boss, my Friend, my Savior, shouldn’t I prefer communicating with Him rather then anyone else?  This shouldn’t be a hard decision at all.  I think I’ll work on spending more time with Him, talking to Him, studying what He has to say to me, and listening to His still, small voice and less time with these other things.

Instead of constantly checking my email, instant messages, Skype chat, Blackberry texts, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, maybe I need to be constantly checking in with HIM.  Good decision?

The Orange Coat Love Lesson

Last August I was studying my Bible and came upon a passage that changed my life. It was in Matthew, Chapter 22. Starting at verse 36 it goes something like this:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Now I had heard this many times before but that day, that peculiar day in August of last year, these words struck home with such incredible force. It was as if a bullet had ripped my heart open and I cried as I confessed to my Maker, my Boss and my Savior “I do NOT love You with ALL of my heart and ALL of my soul and ALL of my mind. “ I knew in my heart of hearts that I didn’t and I asked Him, simply and honestly what should I do – so that I could. He told me, “Go to Coimbatore, my girls there will teach you how to love.”

Now you know the reason why I came to the Michael Job Centre for Orphan Girls, Coimbatore, India, the place for the daughters of Christian martyrs. I came so that they could teach me. Will you let me share one of the love lessons they have taught me? Remember, these are girls who have struggled under horrific persecution, many watching their mothers and fathers being killed because THEY loved Jesus more than life itself. OK Here goes.

Last January, when I returned to the Centre for a second love-training semester, it was a very different place. The persecution in the Indian State of Orissa had intensified greatly. Many thousands of Christians had run into the jungle to keep from being killed by radical Hindus. Thousands had been moved into protective refugee camps patrolled by the military from the Central Government as they tried (often unsuccessfully) to keep the Christians safe. Because of this persecution, over 140 new girls had come to the orphanage. This had put an awful strain on the resources here and the staff was struggling to keep it all together.

There were so many problems. First of all there was a huge language barrier. These new Orissa orphans only spoke their local language – Oriya. So they could not communicate with the staff or other girls who spoke either English or Hindi or one of their own native Indian languages. Second, most of them had never seen a toilet, or slept in a real bed, or sat down at a table and used a plate for eating. The struggle was on to help as many as we could; as quickly as we could. Most of them were very malnourished and more than a few were suffering from a multitude of medical problems like malaria. So I got to watch as the staff and older girls lovingly demonstrated to the new frightened Christian refugees, how to adapt to this very foreign world.

This is when I was introduced to Naina. She was a young girl of 16, I believe she was the daughter of a persecuted pastor. She happened to speak both Oriya and English, so she became my interpreter, as I tried to help the new girls learn the ropes of the Centre. When I preached on Sunday at Chapel she translated into Oriya for the new ones. I tend to think that her sermons were probably better than mine but I hoped that there was some similarity in the content.

But Naina was also very memorable for me because of her coat. You see in January in Coimbatore the nights and mornings can be cold. Well at least cold to these girls. When we walk to the Chapel at 05:20am (so we can start worshiping at 05:30) the temperature can get down into the low 60′s. Like the octogenarians in South Florida who get out mukluks when it drops below 80, for these thin girls, 64 degrees was like freezing. But Naina had a coat. It was a bright burnt orange color with fake fur around the wrists and collar. It was about 2 sizes too small (I’m not sure if she could button it) and was in my opinion one of the ugliest coats I’ve ever seen. But it was warm. It kept her warm when many, many others were cold. To me, that’s all that mattered – it kept her warm. So I watched with enjoyment, Naina staying warm in her ugly orange coat when we went to Chapel.

One morning during the announcements portion of the Chapel service, Uncle Shajan (one of the Staff at the Centre) was VERY angry. It seems Nora, one of the new Orissa girls, had left her room unlocked and all of her clothes had been stolen. This included 5 new, highly prized dresses she had just received because she was a recent arrival. He was so angry and rightfully so. He said first it was wrong to steal but then it was also just stupid, because whoever stole the dresses couldn’t wear them. They’d be found out right away. What a waste. It was a hard lesson for Nora who seemed as sad a little girl as I’d ever seen.

The next morning was especially cold. I remember shivering as I walked from the Arts and Science College building to the Chapel. I walk past the hostel where the orphans live so I always get to stroll with them at least part of the way, as we go together for worship. Most of the girls were all bundled up in thin blankets or double and triple layer sweaters. Then I saw Naina. She was cold! She wasn’t wearing her coat. Puzzled I asked her, “Hey, where’s your coat?” She gave me a shrug and a smile as an answer. That’s all I could get out of her, as she too shivered her way on to the Chapel.

Then I saw the ugly orange coat. Nora walked past me wearing it. The girl that had no clothes yesterday was warm this morning because of the willing, silent sacrifice of Naina. I quickly turned and walked a little away from the girls then. I didn’t want them to see this stupid old man’s tears as I thanked God for bringing me here, to learn this Orange Coat Love lesson. This love is-an-action-verb lesson.

From the Love student at the Michael Job Centre for Orphan Girls, the home for daughters of martyred Christians, near Sulur’s Boat Lake, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Neighbor Tom