Volume 1

January 2013

E-Herald of the Coming Kingdom

The time has come, and the Kingdom of God is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News. Mark 1:15 GW

Would God Vote For YOU? The power of problems Fathers disappear from households Milk, meat and the malnourished church Islam in Britain and Germany God and His Will for you

DEDICATED TO SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS OF GODS COMING KINGDOM TO BE ESTABLISHED WHEN CHRIST RETURNS

Contents
Editorial
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Would God Vote For You?

Wally Winner Page 7

The Power of Problems

Michael Hoffman Page 11

Brief Bible Study Notes

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Fathers Disappear From Households Across America

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Milk, Meat and the Malnourished Church

Steven Furtick
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Rise of Islam: Muslin Population of Britain Doubles

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Rise of Islam: The Islamization of Germany 2012

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God and His Will For You in 2013

Kent H. Ross Page 29

Christian Workers Seminar Registration forms

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Editors Note
Co-Editors: Kent H. Ross Wally Winner

A Mediocre Church Mediocrity? Is that what we need . . . more and better mediocrity? This was the facetious statement in last month's editorial, but there was no response, perhaps showing the truth of the statement. Hans Christian Anderson wrote a story about the King's New Clothes. You remember the story, how some swindling tailors persuaded the king, whose senses must have been dulled, stultified to be allowed to make a new garment from their special cloth. Now there was no cloth at all, in reality, but they sewed on the invisible, non-existent cloth, with their invisible and non-existent needles and thread and worked and worked and worked right up until the day of the parade during which the King would wear what he thought was the most beautiful suit of new clothes. The King mounted his steed, the trumpets blared their fanfare and his entourage started through the city. Though he was wearing nothing, he had persuaded himself that he was wearing this most beautiful new suit of clothes. His vanity, and desire to have such a set of clothes had him proudly riding through the city. The crowds, hardly knowing what to think, or say, respectfully (he was the king) so they cheered him and pretended to be ever so impressed with his new "suit of clothes.' Along the way, though, one little boy blurted out the truth, "The King isn't wearing any clothes!" This, of course, exposed the vanity of the king and the foolishness of the people who pretended nothing was amiss. Suddenly the truth was evident. The King didn't have on any clothes. All because one little boy spoke the truth. We're living along such a parade route. No, there isn't a King riding along, pretending he's wearing his beautiful, fabulous, wonderful new set of clothes. But when we pretend, in vain, that the work of the Lord is going along powerfully, we're blinding or eyes to the reality of our church, and many others churches. There are a few megachurches, but none of them are proclaiming the Kingdom and many of the other great truths of the Bible. They look good; they sound great; they impress the crowds along the parade route. but some day a little boy will blurt out the truth . . ., "it isn't working!" The church may have bigger barns, but the truth is not in bigger barns. Frederick Speakman once told the story of an elderly woman who was taking a tour of Westminster Abbey. The guide was extolling its beauty, the famous people who were buried there, reminding his group of those who had been married there. Suddenly this little lady asked, right out in front of them all, "How many people have been saved here lately?" That ought to be the question we ask of our college and conference, but also of our churches . . . and of ourselves . . . has anybody come to faith here laqtely?

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This Issue is Filled for You In response and conjunction with the above thoughts, we're sharing some discoveries from a CNN blog about where churches are heading, and their interaction with politics. Excellent and challenging, though many will not read it with eyes that really see. Wally Winner challenges us with questions stemming from our recent presidential election and concerning our electability. Michael Hoffman approaches Problems and explains their Positive Power. There is a new feature of miscellaneous Brief Bible Notes. They're relatively short, but well worth your time to study them on your own. Three articles - one on Disappearing Fathers, one on the Malnourished Church, with deeply insightful conclusions, and then one, really two, on the Rise of Islam in both England and Germany, ought to be read and taught in our churches.. These portend an ominous future for civilization. Finally the last article is about you, about each of us, asking us to spend time Discovering God's Will and Plan for Us in 2013. Two articles which we expected to have in this issue, on the Personality and/or the Non-Personality of Satan, were not yet ready. Hopefully in February they will be. In that next issue The Christian Worker's Seminar comes up in April. Both Wally Winner and myself, coeditors of this missive, will be teaching there, We hope you can join us. The Kingdom is Coming "Signs of the times are everywhere. There's a brand new feeling in the air . . . Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky, Lift up your heads, redemption drawth nigh."

Our Take: Biggest moves in religion and politics in 2012 Editors Note: Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., is the CEO at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Daniel Cox is the Director of Research at PRRI and specializes in research on millennials and the religiously unaffiliated. (from CNN blog) Considering that 2012 saw the first presidential contest in which there was no white mainline Protestant anywhere on the presidential ticket, religion played a surprisingly subtle role in the election cycle. Here are the 10 most important ways religion influenced politics and culture in 2012, trimmed out with findings from 16 surveys and over 22,000 interviews conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute research team in 2012. 1) The Mormon question is finally laid to rest when white evangelicals fell in line behind Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee. 2) The end of a white Christian majority Obamas decisive victory in 2012 was largely the result of his strong support among the growing number of non-Christian, nonwhite Christian, and religiously unaffiliated voters. The bottom line: In presidential election years, there simply are no longer enough white Christian votes to overcome deficits among other demographics for Republican presidential candidates.

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3) The religiously unaffiliated are not all 'nones' Americans who identify with no particular religion now represent nearly 1 in 5 (19%) Americans, but they are not all nones or nonbelievers. Although more than one-third (36%) of the religiously unaffiliated are atheist or agnostic, roughly 4-in-10 (39%) of the unaffiliated identify as secular, and nearly one-quarter (23%) belong to a newly identified category of unattached believers. These groups differ significantly not only in their level of religious commitment and belief most secular Americans believe in some type of God and unattached believers overwhelmingly believe in a personal God and pray with some regularity - but in who they are. Unattached believers are more likely to be Hispanic and African-American, while the vast majority of seculars and atheists and agnostics are white. As a whole, however, religiously unaffiliated voters are fairly unengaged, politically. They strongly supported Obama (70%) over Romney (26%) in 2012, but despite representing nearly 1 in 5 Americans, they made up only 12% of voters in 2012. The bottom line: The growth of the religiously unaffiliated is changing the American religious landscape, but it has only partially been felt at the ballot box due to lower turnout rates. 4) Jewish voters were unswayed by rhetoric on Israel Despite strenuous efforts by Republican leaders and strategists to convince Jewish voters to abandon Obama because of his record on Israel, Obama won 69% of the Jewish vote, a result that was lower than his support among Jewish Americans in 2008 (78%), but only slightly lower than John Kerrys level of support in 2004 (74%). The bottom line: GOP leaders will have to expand their outreach strategy beyond the topic of Israel to reach into the American Jewish community; this will present a challenge on the domestic policy front, since American Jews strongly favor economic justice and are among the strongest supporters of rights for women, immigrants, and gay and lesbian Americans. 5) The Contraception mandate as religious liberty violation didn't resonate. Bishops sought to raise Catholics ire against the contraception mandate, a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires religiously affiliated organizations to provide no-cost birth control to their employees through health insurance plans. Yet, throughout the year, most Americans (55%) and a majority of Catholics (52%) agreed that religiously affiliated colleges and hospitals should have to comply with this requirement. White Catholics were more divided, but white evangelical Protestants are notably the only religious group that remains staunchly opposed (66%) to the mandate. Rank and file Catholics strongly support the principles of religious liberty, but most do not have moral objections to contraception and failed to see the religious liberty threat in the ACA. 6) Shattering the myth of the Catholic vote While its a much-repeated fact that the winner of the Catholic vote has won the popular vote in every presidential election since 1972 (Obama led Romney 50% to 48% in 2012), this fact hides the presence of at least two Catholic votes. Three-quarters of Hispanic Catholics voted for Obama, while nearly 6 in 10 white Catholics supported Romney. Look for delicate negotiations as the laity drifts left while the bishops tack right. 7) Millennials are not their parents 'values voters' On Election Day, millennial voters under the age of 30 outnumbered seniors (19% vs. 16% of all voters), and strongly supported state ballot initiatives on marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage. Fully 6 in 10 lined up behind Obama. Pre-election polls found that more than two-thirds (68%) of millennials nationwide favor same-sex marriage, and 6 in 10 (59%) favor legalizing marijuana. Page 5

8) The sea change on same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage advocates went from a 13-0 losing record on state ballot measures in 2004 to 4-0 winning record in 2012. Most notably, Obamas support for same-sex marriage before the election was not a prominent theme in negative campaign ads. Three states (Washington, Maryland and Maine) legalized same-sex marriage through popular referendums, and a ban against same-sex marriage was defeated in Minnesota, marking the first time this issue has ever triumphed by popular vote at the polls. The polling shows that its not just Americas youngest voters who favor same-sex marriage a majority (51%) of Americans age 30-49 now support allowing gay and lesbian people to marry. 9) The perils of staking out extreme views on abortion While 69% of white evangelical Protestants say abortion is morally wrong, two-thirds (66%) nonetheless believe that women should be able to obtain a legal abortion in cases of rape. While the issue of abortion continues to divide Americans, political leaders on both the left and the right would do well to remember that Americans hold complex views on this issue, that they distinguish between moral disapproval and legal prohibition, and that few on either side are absolutists. 10) Americans support Second Amendment, but also strict enforcement Earlier this year, just after the mass shootings in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, we discovered that although more than two-thirds (68%) of Americans perceive the right to bear arms to be as important as other constitutional rights, majorities also want both stricter gun laws (52%) and stricter enforcement of existing gun laws (67%). Furthermore, roughly three-quarters of Americans believe that concealed weapons should not be permitted in churches, on college campuses, or in government buildings. While support for stricter gun control laws has generally waned since the 1990s, there is early evidence that in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, support for stricter gun control laws is now in solid majority territory and at a 10-year high. But still to be seen is that while the Columbine High School shootings resulted in an increase in support for stricter gun control laws for about a year before support began to flag and continue its downward trend. Finally, the 2013 religion and politics forecast: Look for religious groups and themes to appear in debates over immigration reform, economic policy as the fiscal cliff fight spills over into 2013, implementation of the ACA, and LGBT rights as the Supreme Court hears challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act and Californias Proposition 8. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox.

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Would God Vote for You?

By Wally Winner
In November many went to the polls to choose the leaders of our various levels of government. When people go to the polls, we hope they are choosing government leaders based on their past performance, their future plans, and their ability to lead. Hopefully, we also want to know what candidates believe and where they stand on various important issues. We want to know if their actions match their rhetoric. We want to know if we can trust them to do the right thing. We want to know if they have a long-term record of good decisions. We want to know if they have been and are going to be agents for positive change in our land. By the way, we should choose candidates based on Gods values. If we dont elect leaders that reflect Gods values in their lives, then we are in jeopardy of bringing further reproach on our land. Proverbs 14:34Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Imagine if you will, God entering a polling booth, but rather than presidential or congressional candidates, He finds your name as a candidate. What you are running for is that person that Ezekiel is talking about here. Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Someone to make up the hedge. Someone to stand in the gap. The question is, would God vote for you? While God may not be casting a ballot, He is nevertheless looking for representatives. He wants men, women, and young people from every walk of life. He is searching for those individuals who meet His criteria for becoming catalysts for revival. He is looking for those who will reflect His values, represent His philosophy, take the action necessary to carry out His will, and meet the conditions for an outpouring of His presence. The real power to change the world isnt in the hands of the politicians; it rests with the people of God. It rests with those who have experienced the lifetransforming message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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2 Chronicles 16:9For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. God has promised to show Himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him! Lets check our record on some key issues that are in the forefront of Gods platform for our lives! THE WAR ON EVIL. (Ephesians 6:10-18) The war on terror in this world is in the forefront this election year. However, there is a related war and a much greater war that is raging and that has been going on since the garden of Eden. That is, the spiritual battle against evil and wickedness. Are We Strong In The Lord And In The Power Of His Might? Are We Armed With The Whole Armor Of God? 1. Truth. (Belt) 2. Righteousness. (Breastplate) 3. Preparation of the Gospel of Peace. (Shoes) 4. Faith. (Shield) 5. Salvation. (Helmet) 6. The Word of God. (Sword) Are We Using The Divine Weapons Of Prayer And Scripture To Wage War Against The Enemy Of Men? HOMELAND SECURITY. Would God say that we have set up the necessary defenses in our life to prevent the evil from intruding on our home turf? 1 Peter 5:8-9Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Are We Actively Screening What Comes Into Our Home Via The Various Communication Outlets? (television, radio, internet, books, magazines, etc.) Just as the terrorists are actively looking for any soft spot in our homeland defenses, so evil is looking for soft spots in our defenses. HEALTH CARE. Would God say that we are faithfully attending to our spiritual health and to the spiritual health of others? Page 8

Are We Growing And Maturing Spiritually As We Should? Too many Christians are spiritually malnourished! 2 Peter 3:18But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. Some are malnourished because they have no spiritual food to feed on. Some are malnourished because they refuse the spiritual food given them EMPLOYMENT. Ephesians 4:1-3I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Would God Say That We Are Actively Employed In His Service? I can tell you that the present unemployment rate among Christians is pathetic and it is totally unacceptable with God! The only acceptable employment rate in Gods service is 100%! We have too many Christians today who are unemployed for God and who just want to live off of the benefits provided by those who are employed. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. (Luke 12:34-48) Would God say that we are making the best use of our God-given gifts, abilities, and resources to further His kingdom? 1. Everything that we have, we have because God has allowed us to have it!

2. All that we have belongs to God, not us! 3. We are to use all that God has given to us for His honor and His glory! 4. Each of us are stewards who have been given differing amounts from God! 5. Every one of us will give an account one day of our personal stewardship to God! 1 Corinthians 4:12Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. Page 9

JUDICIAL RESTRAINT. (Matthew 15:1-9) Do we seek to understand Gods laws with an eagerness to apply them and obey them or do we tend to alter them to fit our own preferences, desires, and behaviors. In this country we are seeing a proliferation of judges who are legislating from the bench rather than interpreting our constitution and applying the laws of this land as they have been since this country was founded. But listen, we are also seeing Gods people doing that which is right in their own eyes ignoring the clear teachings of the Word of God! So where do you stand on these issues that are important to God? THE WAR ON EVIL, HOMELAND SECURITY, HEALTH CARE, EMPLOYMENT, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, JUDICIAL RESTRAINT. Are you REALLY on the right side of these issues or is your talk just a bunch of rhetoric. (i.e. Your talk is right, but there is nothing in your life to truly substantiate your position?) How about if God were in the ballot box to vote as to whether you are going to be in the kingdom or going to the Lake of Fire, which do you think it would be? Well, I can tell you exactly what it would be. If you dont have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Bible says you are condemned. Would God vote for you? His vote is the only one that counts.

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THE POWER OF PROBLEMS

By Michael Hoffman
The parable is told of an old dog that fell into a farmers well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the dog but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he planned to bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery. When the farmer began shoveling, initially the old dog was hysterical. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he should shake it off and step up. This he did blow after blow. Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up! he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation seemed, the old dog fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up! It was not long before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What seemed as though it would bury him actually benefited him all because of the way he handled his adversity. I do not like troubles, difficulties, conflict or adversities in my life. I strive to prevent or avoid those things from occurring. However, I do know that I have grown up through some tough times like I never would have if everything had been smooth, easy and comfortable. There is no doubt in Scripture of the benefit of hard times in our lives. How often have we smirked at James 1:2-4? Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (NIV) I think we smirk because we see no joy in trials but James is not saying there is joy in tough times. He says to consider it pure joy not because we have trials but because we grow up through them, we develop perseverance. I will always remember hearing a Doctor speak in 1980. He lived behind the Iron Curtain and he was rather blunt about how soft and lazy we Americans are in our faith because we had never really been tested. I think he was correct then and now. I recently heard a radio discussion about Millennials or those in Generation Y having a very difficult time with any personal criticism or hard times because they have generally been protected or shielded from it their entire lives. Testing of our faith develops perseverance, leading to maturity and completeness. Therefore, there is a lot of power in problems. The Apostle Paul concurred. Romans 5:3-5 says, Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (NIV) Perseverance is not developed through ease, comfort, calm and tranquility. Perseverance is hammered out on the anvil of suffering, pain, discomfort and big bumps in the road. Perseverance develops within us a Christ-like character that leads to hope and hope does not disappoint. It is a huge disservice to our children and those growing up in Christ to constantly shield or protect them from problems and suffering. In the long run, it is far more beneficial spiritually to experience the consequences of poor choices and suffer for them. We grow up, mature and learn for more rapidly in those Page 11

tough times than we ever do when everything in life is going smooth, easy and comfortably. That being true, there is a great deal of power in problems. As we learn, grow and mature, problems can also give us wonderful ministry opportunities. Paul expresses this truth in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (NIV) When we have been there and done that through hard times, we can share with others going through similar times the comfort God provided us. Support groups are effective for that reason. Gods comfort for us provides significant opportunity to minister to others in their troubling times. The writer of Hebrews, after some incredible examples of lives of faith, gives us three very practical approaches to handling problems and benefitting from the power they hold. Hebrews 12:1-3 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (NIV) 1. Run the race with perseverance. The word race comes from the same root word as agony. Sometimes life can be agony as it is less than pleasant. The rewards come just in sticking with it, hanging in there and finishing. When I ran on the cross country team my freshmen year of high school, every race was agony to me. I hated every step of it. I did find satisfaction in finishing every race and improved as the season went along. I persevered by focusing on the finish line. 2. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. As Believers in Christ, we know about the finish line. We are to run the race until Jesus comes back. No matter how much agony we endure; no matter how tough the race, or how much life throws at us, we know we have hope of eternal life when Jesus returns. Each day is one day closer to the finish line for us. I do not look forward with any type of denial of reality or the difficulties I face. I do look forward with the perspective that the Kingdom will come and I can endure until then with Gods help. 3. Consider how Christ endured. The word consider means to reckon, compare, weigh, or think over. Ponder for a moment all that Jesus went through on our behalf just in the last week of his mortal life; the betrayals, abandonment, brutality, choice of submission and hideous death. He endured all of that on our behalf and because of our sin. He endured all of that with his eyes looking toward God. If we look through our problems relying on God, those problems can have great power to change our lives for the good. So, here are some practical pointers on perseverance and benefitting from the power of problems: 1. Accept that life is not fair. It just is not . Get over it. If life were fair, Jesus would not have died for our sins. The more people try to make life fair, the less fair it becomes. Page 12

2. Admit that life is difficult. Jesus was very frank about that. In John 16:33 he says, I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. I this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. There will be tough times in life. We live in a broken world. God has a plan to fix all that in His time. Until that time, our attitude toward problems is the key. We know troubles will come so look at them as an opportunity to grow, learn and become more like Jesus. I have had a saying on my desk for about 3 decades that I appreciate and it helps me keep a healthy perspective. Maybe it can help you too. We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. 3. Accept the grace to persevere. Paul had a thorn in the flesh and prayed three times for it to be removed or healed. The answer was no. What the Lord said is in 2 Corinthians 12:9, But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ power may rest on me. When our problems lead to Christ power working in us, those problems have extraordinary power for good in our lives. 4. Remember, we are never alone. Matthew 28:20b says, And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. There are numerous other similar promises in the Bible. You are never alone. Never. 5. Let the church family be family. There is no need to ever go it alone. Paul is wonderfully succinct and practical in Romans 12:15 when he says, Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Sometimes we cling to our pride, privacy and confidentiality and suffer far more alone than necessary when the body of believers, the church family, can be there to support and encourage. We need to let them. They may be able to apply the comfort of 2 Corinthians 1 to our pain. 6. Keep a kingdom perspective. No matter what I face as a believer in Jesus Christ, I will always know that the Kingdom of God is coming. I have every assurance and certainty of being transformed when Jesus returns. I keep my eyes on the finish line. Is there agony before I get there? Sure. But more powerfully, there is hope, confidence and peace. Corrie ten Boom knew a lot about dealing with problems in life as she survived the Holocaust. She once said, I find that when everything is taken from us, God is enough. The Psalmist said it so well in Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Problems can indeed have great power in our lives, especially when they cause us to look in faith to our God. Benefit from the power of problems in your life. Shake it off and step up. Page 13

Brief Bible Study Notes:

Steve Mullican If Jesus is God then 1. How could he have a beginning (Matthew 1:18; Romans 1:3), since God has always existed (Isaiah 43:13)? 2. How could he keep "increasing in wisdom" (Luke 2:52), since Gods "understanding is infinite" (Psalm 147:5)? 3. Why did he say, "I can do nothing on my own initiative" (John 5:30), whereas God "can do all things" (Job 42:2)? 4. Why did he spend "the whole night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12), as there is never a time when God prays, but only receives prayer from others? 5. How could he learn obedience and become perfect (Hebrews 5:8 and 9), since God invented obedience and is already perfect (Matthew 5:48)? 6. Why doesnt he know the day and hour when he will return, and yet his Father, God, does know (Matthew 24:36)? 7. Why didnt he know who touched him (Mark 5:30), whereas God knows everything (Isaiah 46:10)? 8. How could he be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1), yet "God cannot be tempted by evil" (James 1:13)? 9. How could he die (Philippians 2:8), if God "alone possesses immortality" (I Timothy 6:16)? 10. How could he be in subjection to the Father [if he were the Father] for all eternity, (I Corinthians 15:28)? 11. Why was he asleep on the cushion (Mark 4:38), yet God never sleeps or slumbers (Psalms 12:14)? Jaco van Zyl Biblical pre-existence: The plan and purpose of creation was the Christ-event (1 Pet. 1:20, 21). C.J. Dull I think the view that Arabs and Jews somehow managed to get along famously until 1948 cannot be sustained by the historical record. Tacitus (late first century, early second), who recounts the efforts on the Roman side in the siege of Jerusalem (Histories 5.1), comments that there was a large contingent of Arabs on the Roman side with "a hatred usual for neighbors" (solito inter accolas odio). The Islamic invasions of what is now Israel in the seventh century were characterized by a number of massacres. Interestingly, Damascus (635) and Antioch (636) were captured before Jerusalem (638). Even in the "enlightened" rule of some of the early Arabic Islamic rulers, many Jews were taxed into bankruptcy. Usually, matters improved for Jews when other ethnic groups took over (e.g., the Persian Abbasid dynasty, the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks), who had litPage 14

tle love for Arabs as well. We in the West have a difficult time understanding blood feuds that last centuries (if not millennia), but they are common particularly in the Near East. My first course in ancient history was taught by an expert in the ancient near East at the U. of Minnesota. In his perspective, he thought there could only be peace in that part of the world if it was imposed from outside. He said the only times he knew of when the area had unity and peace was when it was imposed from outside, whether imposed by the Persians, Alexander or the Turks.

Sarah Smith

If Jesus is God why would he need to learn obedience? Dennis Baldwin The men and women who taught me "truth" did so with truth in mind. I was from the beginning taught how important "truth" was. As a young adventist I went to "youth meetings" where visiting guest came in and talked about "hell' and "heaven" going. Many "well meaning" advent preachers tried to push trinity and pre-existence on their people and many were swayed. Those who taught me helped me to see the difference. Bro. ZB spent hours with me, teaching me "bible doctrine" as well as from the pulpit. We can all talk about how unimportant bible doctrine is but none of us would trade our understanding of "truth" for anything. I wouldn't trade mine. It is my understanding that when Jesus said "this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God" he was placing tremendous importance (it's a matter of eternal life) on that understanding about God and his son. John made it plain that whoever denies the "father and the son" is in trouble. I should think that helps in the discussion, it does me anyhow. If it does not for others, I praise God it does for me. I am not saying that for Anthony's sake. I learned that from Pastor ZB Duncan, Bro Shular Messiack and Bro Paul Holden and Pastor Jim Ritch's father when I was but a lad and have not found out any different. Please forgive me for being so blunt but you know us North Carolinians, we give "blunt a new definition". I know we live in a very pluralistic society and I also realize it makes it easier to explain all the confusion in religious understanding to be more accepting and to compromise. God told Israel "ye are my witnesses is there a God beside me, I don't know any". Even though they have rejected to this point the Son of God, Israel has been faithful to uphold that witness and as a "witness" so appointed by the Lord Jesus I also feel it my duty to witness also to that truth. I know very few will agree with me on that issue. Bro ZB used to say, "If I am left alone to witness to the truth in a cornfield, that's what I will do". How often as a young man I was confronted with the idea of "standing for the truth." I guess it just grew on me as I studied the Bible. at this point in my life at 67 I don't think it is something on which I want to compromise. If I didn't love all you guys I wouldn't say these things. I would just keep my mouth shut. I don't want it to come out the wrong way but I was not brought up in COG of Abrahamic Faith doctrine as such, I was encouraged to believe "the truth" and came to find it in the COG of Abrahamic Faith. I believed in the kingdom of God before I ever heard of the COG of Abrahamic Faith. I believed it to be very important. I was taught to believe it to be fundamental. I know we are all, yea many people in the world are frightened of that word but so be it. It seems to me as it always has since I came to the belief that there are some things that are important in ones understanding. That having been said I also must confess that God can save whoever he so chooses. That does not however relieve me from preaching the "truth" to those to whom I witness and telling them that it is of paramount importance. There are "eternal life" issues. At least that's the way I see it as I "speak the truth in love". Like Paul I'm not ashamed to sign my name. John said "If any comes and brings not this doctrine, receive him not into your house not bid him godspeed". Most of us would find it very difficult to adopt that frame of mind, including myself but "Why not Dennis?" Pastor Dennis J Baldwin Page 15

Fathers Disappear From Households Across America

Nicole Hawkins three daughters have matching glittery boots, but none has the same father. Each has uniquely colored ties in her hair, but none has a dad present in her life. As another single mother on Sumner Road decked her row-house stoop with Christmas lights and a plastic Santa, Ms. Hawkins recalled that her middle childs father has never spent a holiday or birthday with her. In her neighborhood in Southeast Washington, 1 in 10 children live with both parents, and 84 percent live with only their mother. In every state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade. Even as the country added 160,000 families with children, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million. Fifteen million U.S. children, or 1 in 3, live without a father, and nearly 5 million live without a mother. In 1960, just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers. America is awash in poverty, crime, drugs and other problems, but more than perhaps anything else, it all comes down to this, said Vincent DiCaro, vice president of the National Fatherhood Initiative: Deal with absent fathers, and the rest follows. People look at a child in need, in poverty or failing in school, and ask, What can we do to help? But what we do is ask, Why does that child need help in the first place? And the answer is often its because [the child lacks] a responsible and involved father, he said. The spiral continues each year. Married couples with children have an average income of $80,000, compared with $24,000 for single mothers. We have one class that thinks marriage and fatherhood is important, and another which doesnt, and its causing that gap, income inequality, to get wider, Mr. DiCaro said. The predilection among men to walk away from their babies is concentrated in the inner cities. In Baltimore, 38 percent of families have two parents, and in St. Louis the portion is 40 percent. The near-total absence of male role models has ripped a hole the size of half the population in urban areas. Tiny selfless deeds trickle in to fill that hole as the natural human desire for intimacy is fulfilled: One afternoon last week as a girl hoisted a half-eaten ice cream sandwich high over her pigtailed head, Larry McManus, the father of the girls sister, bent down to eat out of her hands as he picked up the girls from school. I know dads that say they aint their kids. I see dads being disrespectful of the mothers. And I see ones who take other mens kids to football games because they know their fathers arent around, said Mr. McManus, an ex-felon who said he is trying to make a lot of changes right now. Page 16

Asked his daughters age, he consults with her sister. Five. Shes in pre-K, the girl answered. Shes 5, he echoed. Mmm, that was good, he said gently of the ice cream sandwich. Can I have another bite, please? Racial divide Though income is the primary predictor, the lack of live-in fathers also is overwhelmingly a black problem, regardless of poverty status, census data show. Among blacks, nearly 5 million children, or 54 percent, live with only their mother. Twelve percent of black families below the poverty line have two parents present, compared with 41 percent of impoverished Hispanic families and 32 percent of poor white families. The schism is most apparent in the District, which has a higher portion of two-parent families among whites, at 85 percent, and a lower share among blacks, at 25 percent, than any state. In all but 11 states, most black children do not live with both parents. In every state, 7 in 10 white children do. In all states but Rhode Island and Massachusetts, most Hispanic children do. In Wisconsin, 77 percent of white children and 61 percent of Hispanics live with both parents, compared with more than 25 percent of black children. Something has to be done about it, and it starts with the culture and reversing the attitude that marriage is not important. The president has a role to play in that. Hes a married African-American father who can probably make a huge difference with words alone, Mr. DiCaro said. But the move toward single-parent homes has included every race, and from Curtis Bay in Baltimore to Millcreek outside Salt Lake City to Vancouver, Wash., just north of Portland, there are 1,500 neighborhoods with substantial white populations where most white households lack fathers. Maine, Vermont and West Virginia have the lowest dual-parenthood rates for whites.

Southern cross The decline has hit disproportionately in the South, which considers itself a bastion of traditional family values. Even in places where the percentage of the black population declined, single parenthood increased over the past decade, The Washington Times analysis of census data shows. In South Carolina, where the black share of the population fell by 2 percent, single parenthood rose by 5 percent. In Kentucky and Louisiana, where the black population was constant, single parenthood increased 6 percentage points. In places youd think values are at least talked about, they are not lived out necessarily. Education and income seem to trump them. The people who might not be preaching family values, like coastal upper-class communities, those are the people who are waiting to get married, Mr. DiCaro said. The largest geographic area of sustained fatherlessness contains the rural, largely black poor Page 17

across Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, tributaries of broken homes running 400 miles along the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tenn., where in some neighborhoods 82 percent of children live with their mothers alone, to Baton Rouge, La., in parts of which less than one-fifth of children have both parents at home. Black families differ from other racial groups in that the average black single mother has more children, not fewer, than her counterpart with a father present. Hispanic single mothers were most often dealing with the most mouths to feed but still had fewer children than their married counterparts.

To have and to hold Mr. DiCaro points to a desire among the poor to produce something. When you have very little going for you in your life, having children can give purpose to it. If youre married, youre going to be much more cautious. Theres health care costs and our jobs, whereas if we were both just kind of doing whatever, then why not just have another kid?" Mr. McManus is quick to blame the absence of fathers to deaths or incarcerations, though women point out that many absent fathers live around the corner. Mr. McManus attributes that to the young age of many parents who are not ready to be tied down. He said women who need help with their children will seek the companionship of other men who they think can be father figures. Ms. Hawkins, the mother of three, lives with her youngest childs father but considers herself a single parent. When hes home, hes watching TV; its his time. I get no help. Financially, hes been a good provider, she said, even for the children who arent his. But as far as being involved in activities, not so much. Her relationship with her eldest childs father ended over his refusal to support their offspring, and her second childs father is in prison. My oldest was raised by both parents, so its just selfish, she said, but my middle one, he wasnt raised by either parent, so he doesnt know how. We need more fatherhood initiatives, she said, pointing to government- and nonprofitfunded programs at churches, prisons and community centers, such as those offered by Mr. DiCaros group, so they can see what theyre missing. Just then, her daughter Nadya picked up a tree branch and strummed it like a guitar, jumping up and down, all smiles. Ms. Hawkins reconsidered her thoughts on government programs. Though to me, thats the initiative right there, she said. You can talk till youre blue in the face about how to do it, but ultimately, you just have to do it. Page 18

Milk, Meat and the Malnourished Church

Is the American Church malnourished? And if so, is it the pastor's fault? One of the greatest critiques of the American Church today is its malnourished. Some would even say its our most pressing problem. When most people voice this complaint, the focus is on the worship experience. From people who leave these churches, you hear, I wasnt getting fed. Or, I just want some deeper teaching. From people outside these churches you hear, Too much milk, not enough meat. In some cases, Im sure this is true. But I really dont think thats the real problem. Yes, American Christians are malnourished. But I dont believe it has anything to do with milk or meat. Most American Christians arent malnourished because of what theyre getting fed on Sunday. Theyre malnourished because they dont feed themselves Monday through Saturday. So you had filet mignon on Sunday and learned about the mystical union of Christ and the church as it relates to the rapture and the design of the tabernacle in relation to Levitical dietary laws as understood by the Council of Trent. Good for you. Have fun starving yourself the rest of the week and letting your pastor read the Bible so you dont have to. So you had some milk on Sunday and learned 37 ways to ________. Have fun having 37 new ways to not obey God during the coming week.

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The crisis facing the church today isnt what people are getting fed on Sundays. Its what theyre not feeding themselves the rest of the days. Who really cares whether you consume meat or milk on Sunday if its the only meal you have all week? Im not saying this to get pastors and churches off the hook. It is the shepherds job to feed the sheep (John 21). And feed them well based on their needs and faith development. But its also the sheeps job to eat: Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:13-14). Heres the point. Churches: We have a responsibility. We should serve up the Word, hot and fresh every single Sunday. As church leaders, it is our job to create and sustain processes and systems that responsibly enable people to grow in their faith after receiving Christ. Tomorrow Ill be sharing our philosophy and approach of how we do that at Elevation. People in our churches: You also have a responsibility. If you refuse to study the Word, apply it, pray some during the week, join a small group and dig deeper with others, theres not much we can do to help you. Your malnourishment wont be cured by anything we give you on Sunday. So are you an infant and need milk? Drink it for now, but the only way youre getting more mature and will be ready for meat is by training yourself . . . constantly. On your own. Constantly. Not getting it served to you just once a week.
Steven Furtick

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RISE OF ISLAM
Muslim Population of Britain Doubles
The national census for England and Wales has come out, and, as usual, this once-a-decade event has had all of its most significant points overlooked. By any measure, what it reveals is a country undergoing seismic change. Over the course of a decade up to four million more people have entered the country to live. In the capital, London, people identifying themselves as "white British" have for the first time become a minority. Perhaps most strikingly, the national Muslim population has doubled. This last fact is perhaps one of the least considered of the census so far. Doubled? Surely not. This has to be the claim of Mark Steyn or some other demographics-obsessed nut. Well no, it isn't, and it is now official: between 2001 and 2011 the Muslim population of the UK rose from 1.5 million to 2.7 million. Otherwise put, that is an increase from 3 percent to 4.8 percent of the overall population. If in 2001 the British Prime Minister had said to the British public that over the next decade he intended to double the number of Muslims in the country, he would most likely never have been returned to office. But of course he did not say that, any more than any of his successors or predecessors did. For the last decade, every major politician has lied about this issue. While talking tough, about putting a cap on immigrant numbers, pushing people to assimilate and much else besides, they have done nearly nothing. For instance, ten years ago Home Secretary David Blunkett talked as tough as he thought he could, saying that migrants ought to learn English. His successor, Jacqui Smith, said the same thing five years later. As did immigration minister Phil Woolas a couple of years after that. Throughout the last decade the Labour government managed to do exactly what the Conservative and coalition governments before and after them have also managed to do: go as far as they thought they could in rhetoric while going wholly against what they said -- and the wishes of the country -- in actions. Now we can see the fruits of their labors. The census reveals that three million people are now living in households where no adult speaks English as their primary language. As Labour's Sadiq Khan has admitted, local councils have spent their money on translation services rather than language classes, thus actually dissuading people from learning the language. The result is communities with inter-generational language barriers. There are parts of London where a quarter of the people are in the same situation. They have created a society where many people can speak about each other but many cannot actually speak to each other. And all the while politicians and pundits are busy trying to pretend that this is all the most wonderful result imaginable. The London Evening Standard welcomed the news that white British-born people had become a minority in their own city, and ran a lead opinion piece accusing anybody unhappy about the doubling of the number of Muslims of being "Islamophobes." Page 21

Since then, the comments have barely gotten more enlightened. The author Will Self declared on the BBC's leading talk show Question Time that people unhappy about the direction Britain is going on are "racists." On the BBC's Newsnight I sat alongside two very nice, wealthy, successful immigrants who explained how positive the census results were for Britain, showing a "diverse" and "multicultural" society. I was the only one of the four panelists to point out that this wave of immigration might have any negative effects. And the only one to point out that the strange thing about a "multicultural" society of this kind is that it can celebrate every imaginable culture other than the one which allows all these cultures to co-exist alongside each other. In other words, it is the center which is the only thing not being celebrated, and the center that is being consciously eroded. Worst of all is that this happened in defiance of the repeatedly expressed views as tested time and again in nationwide polls of the general public. Of course much of this simply confirms what the last Labour government appears to have intended. Three years ago, in the same Evening Standard, Andrew Neather, a former adviser to the Blair government, said that the huge upsurge in immigration over the last decade was in part due to a politically motivated attempt by Labour ministers radically to alter the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity.'" He went on to say that Labour's relaxation of immigration controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration," but that ministers were nervous about discussing this move publicly because they feared that it would alienate their "core working class vote." Well, they have certainly managed to do what they wanted. The Labour government, like the Conservative governments before them, and the coalition government since, did everything it could to ignore the real concerns expressed by the majority of the public. But with no decent mainstream party to vote for, the public kept voting for the same parties as usual. Fooled by the occasional speech saying that there was going to be some"'tough" new approach, the country got stuck in a debate that has been played on repeat. Yet all the time that debate-loop was going, the ground beneath us was changing unrecognizably. Now, true to tradition, a couple of days after the census Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has come out to declare that immigrants to Britain should learn to speak English. It is exactly what all of his recent predecessors have also said, and it is exactly what none of them -- any more than he -have done anything concrete about. Britain has been changed, and more change is on the way. Some of those changes might be good, and others are likely to be not as good. There are those who wanted this change to happen, and there are those who did not. The former now occasionally notice that their plan has caused troubles of which they were barely aware when they set out. The latter are reviled as backwards, racist, bigoted and out-of-touch with their new country. In reality they are simply people who once had a country and have seen it changed irrevocably, and simply hold on to a feeling of sadness that nobody thought about where this would take us, or whether we the people should ever be listened to in the little matter of our own future. Page 22

RISE OF ISLAM
The Islamization of Germany in 2012

Post-Christian Europe became noticeably more Islamized during 2012. As the rapidly growing Muslim population makes its presence felt in towns and cities across the continent, Islam is transforming the European way of life in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. Some of the more notable Islam-related controversies during 2012 occurred in Germany, where the Muslim population has jumped from around 50,000 in the early 1980s to more than 4.5 million today. What follows is a brief chronological review of some of the main stories involving the rise of Islam in Germany during 2012. In January, German authorities welcomed the start of the New Year by officially confirming that they are monitoring German-language Internet websites that are critical of Muslim immigration and the Islamization of Europe. In a January 4, 2012 interview with the Berliner Zeitung and the Frankfurter Rundschau, Manfred Murck, the director of the Hamburg branch of the German domestic intelligence agency (the Bundesamt fr Verfassungsschutz (BfV)), said his organization was studying whether German citizens who criticize Muslims and Islam on the Internet are fomenting hate and are thus criminally guilty of "breaching" the German constitution. The BfV's move marked a significant setback for the exercise of free speech in Germany and came amid a months-long smear campaign led by a triple alliance of left-wing German multicultural elites, sundry Muslim groups and members of the mainstream media, who have been relentless in their efforts to discredit the so-called counter-jihad movement (also known as the "Islamophobes") in Germany. In a country stifled by decades of political correctness, the counter-jihad activists and bloggers have been giving a voice to millions of frustrated Germans who see the harm being wrought by the cult of multiculturalism. Opinion polls consistently show that growing numbers of ordinary German citizens are worried about the consequences of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged mass immigration from Muslim countries. Page 23

Germans are especially concerned about the refusal of millions of Muslim immigrants to integrate into German society, as well as the emergence of a parallel legal system in Germany based on Islamic Sharia law. Also in January, Muslims in Duisburg, one of the most Islamized cities in Germany, clamored for the right to turn empty churches into mosques. All of the churches are located in the gritty Hamborn and Marxloh districts in northern Duisburg where Islam has already replaced Christianity as the dominant religion, and where several Catholic churches have been abandoned. In Germany as a whole, more than 400 Roman Catholic churches and more than 100 Protestant churches have been closed since 2000, according to one estimate. Another 700 Roman Catholic churches are slated to be closed over the next several years. By contrast, Germany is now home to more than 200 mosques (including more than 40 megamosques), 2,600 Muslim prayer halls and a countless number unofficial mosques. Another 128 mosques are currently under construction, according to the Zentralinstitut Islam-Archiv, a Muslim organization based in Germany. Meanwhile, on January 16 one of the oldest universities in Germany inaugurated the country's first taxpayer-funded department of Islamic theology. The Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Tbingen is the first of four planned Islamic university centers in Germany. The German government claims that by controlling the curriculum, the school, which is to train Muslim imams and Islamic religion teachers, will function as an antidote to "hate preachers." (Most imams currently in Germany are from Turkey and many of them do not speak German.) But the idea has been fiercely criticized by those who worry the school will become a gateway for Islamists who will introduce a hardline brand of Islam into the German university system. In February, the interior minister of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Jochen Hartloff, said he favored the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in Germany. In an interview with the German newspaper Sddeutsche Zeitung, Hartloff, a Socialist, said that using the Islamic moral code "is certainly conceivable when it comes to questions pertaining to civil law." Hartloff said using Sharia law to resolve family law issues such as alimony, divorce or financial contracts "could have a pacifying effect" in Germany. Hartloff's comments were seconded by Michael Frieser, an expert on integration issues for the Conservatives in the German parliament. He told the Sddeutsche Zeitung that he has nothing against Muslim immigrants seeking judgments according to their own legal systems. "That can ultimately serve the cause of integration," Frieser said. In March, Muslim mobs in Berlin threatened to "burn down the neighborhood" after a German fatally stabbed an 18-year-old Muslim, in what police deemed was an act of self defence. The March 9 incident occurred in the heavily Islamized Berlin neighborhood of Neuklln, when the German, Sven Page 24

N., tried to stop a fight between two groups of Turks over who should get a football that had been kicked over a fence. The Turks quickly turned their anger against the German. After a group of 20 Muslims armed with knives and daggers challenged Sven, he stabbed one of the attackers, Yusef Al-Abed, in the heart. More than 3,000 Muslims attended Yusuf's funeral, evoking scenes of the Gaza Strip. In April, Islamic radicals launched an unprecedented nationwide campaign to distribute 25 million copies of the Koran, translated into the German language, with the goal of placing one Koran into every household in Germany, free of charge. The mass proselytization campaign -- called Project "Read!" -- was organized by dozens of Islamic Salafist groups located in cities and towns throughout Germany. Salafism is a branch of radical Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia that seeks to establish a Sunni Islamic Caliphate (Islamic Empire) across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and eventually the entire world. The Caliphate would be governed exclusively by Islamic Sharia law, which would apply both to Muslims and to non-Muslims. Salafists believe, among other anti-Western doctrines, that democracy, because it is a man-made form of government, must be destroyed. Although Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, regards the Salafist groups as a threat to German security, Salafists have free reign in the country, and Salafist preachers are known regularly to preach hatred against the West in the mosques and prayer centers that are proliferating across Germany. In May, more than 500 Salafists attacked German police with bottles, clubs, stones and other weapons in the city of Bonn, to protest cartoons they said were "offensive." Rather than cracking down on the Muslim extremists, however, German authorities sought to silence the peaceful critics of multicultural policies that allow the Salafists openly to preach violence and hate. The clashes on May 5 erupted when around 30 supporters of a conservative political party, PRO NRW, which is opposed to the further spread of Islam in Germany, participated in a campaign rally ahead of regional elections in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Some of those participating in the rally, which was held near the Saudi-run King Fahd Academy in the Mehlem district of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, had been waving banners depicting the Islamic Prophet Mohammad (see photo here), to protest the Islamization of Germany. The rally swiftly disintegrated into violence (photos here and here) when hundreds of angry Salafists, who are opposed to any depiction of their prophet, began attacking the police, whose job it was to keep the two groups apart. In the final tally of the melee, 29 police officers were injured, two with serious stab wounds, and Page 25

more than 100 Salafists were arrested, although most were later released. According to Bonn's police chief, Ursula Brohl-Sowa, "This was an explosion of violence such as we have not witnessed in a long time." In June, German authorities launched a major crackdown on Salafists suspected of plotting against the state. In nation-wide raids on June 14, over 1,000 German police searched about 70 Salafist homes, apartments, mosques and meeting places in seven of Germany's 16 states, in search of evidence that would enable the German government to outlaw some of the dozens of Islamist groups operating in the country. In a June 8 interview with the newspaper Die Welt, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said: "Radical Salafism is like a hard drug. All of those who succumb to her become violent." Also in June, German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizire announced his intention to "multiculturalize" the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) by recruiting more Muslims into its ranks. Germany formally discontinued compulsory military service on July 1, 2011 as part of a comprehensive reform aimed at creating a smaller and more agile army of about 185,000 professional soldiers. But Germany's new all-volunteer army has been unable to meet its recruiting goals, and military manpower prospects look dim for the foreseeable future. In a desperate search for soldiers, German military officials have now identified Germany's Muslim Turkish population (3.5 million and counting) as a new source for potential recruits. In August, German Intelligence Chief Gerhard Schindler issued a warning saying that Europe is at great risk of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists. In a wide-ranging interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Schindler said the German foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), is particularly concerned about the threat posed by homegrown terrorists, individuals who were either born or raised in Europe and who travel to war zones like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia or Yemen to obtain training in terrorist methods. Schindler's warning came amid the backdrop of a high-security court trial of four suspected Al Qaeda members, which began in the German city of Dsseldorf on July 25. German public prosecutors say the defendants -- three homegrown Islamists born in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and one Moroccan national -- were planning to stage a "sensational terror attack" in Germany. Also known as the "Dsseldorfer Cell," the defendants were also accused of plotting to assassinate the former commander of German Special Forces (KSK Kommando Spezialkrfte) as well as to attack the US Army base in the Bavarian town of Grafenwhr. Also in August, a new survey of Turkish-German mores and attitudes found that nearly half of all Turks living in Germany say they hope there will be more Muslims than Christians in Germany in the future. Page 26

The 103-page study, "German-Turkish Life and Values" (abridged version in German here), found that Islam is becoming an increasingly important component of the value structure of Turks in Germany, especially among the younger generation of Turkish-Germans, who hold religious views more radical than those held by their elders. In September, a German court in Kassel refused to allow a Muslim student to skip co-ed swimming lessons based on her religious beliefs. The closely watched case highlighted the growing number of conflicts between German school officials and Muslim parents who, for religious reasons, want to keep their children from participating in sports activities, biology classes and field trips. The presiding judge, Hans Rothaug, declared: "The applicant should have attended swimming lessons. In this particular case, there are no grounds for exemptions." In October, a court in Bonn sentenced an Islamist radical to six years in prison for stabbing two German police officers during the protest against "offensive" cartoons in Bonn. Murat K, a 26-year-old German-born Salafist of Turkish heritage from the western state of Hessen, openly admitted that he had attacked and wounded the two police officers with a kitchen knife during the cartoon riots in May. He showed no remorse during his trial, saying only that he had been morally obligated to follow Islamic Sharia law. Murat, whose last name has not been made known to the general public due to German privacy laws, claimed that the attacks on the police officers were justified because the German state had allowed offensive images of the Prophet Mohammed to be shown in public. Murat responded to the verdict by declaring German courts to be illegitimate. He said: "I do not accept this court as legitimate. I am not sitting here voluntarily. Only Allah alone has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil, what is moral and what is immoral." Murat added: "I will answer only to Allah." In an October 19 interview with the German newsmagazine FOCUS, the Secretary General of the ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU), Hermann Grhe, said the conviction of Murat makes it clear that Germany will not allow radical Muslims to "lead a religious war on German streets." In November, Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany, concluded a "historic treaty" with its Muslim communities that grants Muslims broad new rights and privileges but does little to encourage their integration into German society. The November 13 agreement, signed by Hamburg's Socialist Mayor Olaf Scholz and the leaders of four Muslim umbrella groups, was praised by the proponents of multiculturalism for putting the northern port city's estimated 200,000 Muslims on an equal footing with Christian residents. The most controversial part of the accord involves a commitment by the city government to promote the teaching of Islam in the Hamburg public school system. The agreement grants the leaders of Hamburg's Muslim communities a determinative say in what will be taught by allowing them to develop the teaching curriculum for Islamic studies. Page 27

On November 30, the northern German city of Bremen followed Hamburg's lead by concluding its own treaty [Staatsvertrag] with the local Muslim community. The Socialist mayor of Bremen, Jens Bhrnsen, said the treaty reflects "mutual recognition and respect of mutual values." Critics, however, say the agreements, the first of their kind in Germany, will boost the growing influence of Islam in the country by encouraging the perpetuation of a Muslim parallel society. Also in November, a new research survey found that Germans are overwhelmingly mistrustful of Islam and Muslim immigration. The 28-page study, "Fear of the East in the West" (Die Furcht vor dem Morgenland im Abendland), was produced by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research, and was published by the center-right German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on November 21. The research showed that more than half of the German population believes that Islam is prone to violence (64%); has a tendency toward revenge and retaliation (60%); is obsessed with proselytizing others (56%); and strives for political influence (56%). More than 80% of Germans believe that Islam deprives women of their rights, and 70% say Islam is associated with religious fanaticism and radicalism. By contrast, only 13% of Germans associate Islam with love for neighbors, 12% with charity and 7% with openness and tolerance. The study concluded that the image of Islam in Germany is "devastating." The findings -- which corroborate the conclusions of other recent studies -- underscore a growing divide between ordinary Germans, who are concerned about the consequences of mass immigration from Muslim countries, and Germany's political elites, who are determined to build a "multicultural" society at any cost. In December, German authorities said Islamic extremists were behind a botched bomb attack at the main train station in Bonn. In the December 10 incident, a man allegedly linked to Al Qaeda left a bag containing a bomb on a platform at the train station. Authorities say the detonator was activated, but failed to cause an explosion. Also in December, a militant Salafist group released several videos calling on its followers to take German hostages in an effort to secure the release of Murat K, the Islamist who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for stabbing two policemen in Bonn in May. The videos promise that "we will not rest until we have freed you from captivity." In one of the videos, a man speaking German with a foreign accent says: "Everyone who offends the Prophet will be slaughtered, whether near or far. And know this, brother, the Germans are easy enough to reach. We will take them prisoners, until you are free for your noble deed. Page 28

God and His Will for You in 2013

By Kent H. Ross
A New Year -- In January, we often consider how the last year went and make some plans for our new year. That is one of the wonderful and sensational plusses of being a Christian. Not New Year's resolution, which few of us keep, but entering into a relationship with God, perhaps a renewed relationship, that in the year before us will bear fruit for the Kingdom. That is not because we have to, but because we want to and be a blessing to others. In knowing that you, as a Christian, have a plan that God has for your life should set the course for this next year and beyond. Perhaps the general picture can be found in Paul's writing in Ephesians 2:8 10 for there he points out that our salvation is freely given. We are His workmanship, created in Christ, and created to perform the works that God has planned for us. In the Old Testament in Proverbs 3:5, 6, we are told to trust and acknowledge His leadership and then He will direct our paths. As these two Scriptures give us a general sense of God's plan for mankind, we need to pursue seeking His individual plan for us. God's will has two sides to it. In the Bible, God's word, He has already revealed part of His plan for us. In fact, most of His general intent and plan for mankind can be discovered in the Bible. But God also speaks to our special needs each time we seek His will through His Word, both written down, and living within us. Following what Paul says in Ephesians 4:14, 15 we begin to get a clearer picture. This second side of His will is often revealed through our life experiences. If we want examples of that we can go to the Bible and read the stories of the great people of faith that are recorded in the Old Testament and New Testament. That would include names like King David or Moses or Abraham Elijah, then Paul or Peter. As they were led, so will we be led, but it is often through the unfolding of circumstances around us. It is while living life that we begin to perceive what God's plan is for us. We need to note and understand that God's will for us never contradicts what He has already revealed in his Word. We will see it in a new light, and in light of our own experiences, but it will never contradict anything that is clearly explained in His word. There are at least three requirements for knowing God's will.

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First, we must be assured that we are and have decided to be children of God, part of his family. That can only be done by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and by being baptized, then living a life that honors him. Note John 6:28 29, and I Corinthians 2:14, because here it is quite clear that a person who is a natural man and not a child of God cannot perceive God's will. Second, as part of God's family it is imperative that we live, as much as is possible, holy and upright lives and do nothing that would besmirch him as our father. We need to be searching the Scriptures to understand his plan as presented there. Third, we need to express our faith by being willing to step out of the boat as Peter did when he walked on the water to Jesus (Matthew 14). He knew he could do it as Christ called him, but when he looked around him, he feared he could not do it and he began to sink. It wasnt until Christ reached out to touch his hand that he was restored to completing the walk on the water. Abraham expressed his faith by leaving for another country as directed by God (Genesis 12). Here are four guidelines to use for discovering Gods will in your life: 1) We need to be living and obeying Gods principles. That means we need to search in the Scriptures for those principles. Then like them or not we need to be obeying them. 2) We need to be seeking God in prayer. Christ himself, though Gods Son, spent hours in prayer. We must admit that five minutes at prayer can be a long time until we just do it. We often read books about Christ, but spend little time with Christ, allowing Him leadership in our lives. 3) We must allow circumstances to guide us. They may not control our decision, but they are a factor as God opens and closes doors to help us step through. 4) We need relationships with other Christians to accept their guidance because they know us well. Acts 15:28 says the Holy Spirit and us gave instructions, indicating that the guidance came from God as well as from those who surrounded him in the fellowship. An elder or teacher or friend can confirm what we are believing or they may dissuade us from actions that they know would be unwise. If all four of these factors converge, you can be quite sure that your decisions are indeed Gods will for you. But when they dont all agree, then the first two remain the most important. After seeking and discovering what we believe is Gods will for us in this New Year, we need to then act upon our faith and step out and take steps of action. If we do not, then we have turned from believing God and frustrated His plans. This is the year to discover Gods design for our lives! His Design Our Discovery!

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