http://wjno.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=244038&article=4635529
News From Zimbabwe
Readers,
While I was in Seminary I developed a solid and close friendship with a family from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). Amos and I took classes together, studied together, and were next door neighbors in our living arrangements for a couple years. Our first born children (both girls) were born within 6 months of each other. Once I took my first ministry his family and my family shared a very large garden together on the land that the Manse sat on. We shared in the labors and we shared in the harvest. A few years later I visited Zimbabwe and did a wee bit of missionary work while staying in Harrare (formerly Salisbury). It was quite the eye opener to say the least.
Amos and I have continued to stay in touch through the years. We have continued to support the family and the Church work that they are involved in. We are a small Church and so our support is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the need.
As many of you might know Zimbabwe currently is in desperate throes as a Nation.
Below I have reproduced a recent letter from the family.
Dear Friends
We take this opportunity to update you of our situation here in Zimbabwe. We can not say much but enough to just say our situation here continues to deteriorate very rapidly. Actually we have moved from three meals a day to one. There is literally no food in our shops, no sugar, no mealie meal, no rice, no noodles, no meat, no milk, the list is endless. We were excited when we received news of your desire to assist our family financially. It is our hope that God will enable you by his grace to do so. We explored several ways of sending money and the only way to do currently is through the Western Union, They are able to pass on the money without any difficult.
Our prayer is that is we would get some hard currency, ie. US$ or South African rands than we we can go to South Africa or Botswana to purchase food stocks for the family. Our thanksgiving and Christmas prospects look very gloomy but who knows what God can do in such a time as this?
Yesterday we had a very exciting Sunday service.It was a Bring A Friend Sunday.Quite a number of new faces visited our church and 3 of them gave their lives to the Lord. So despite of other hardships the Lord is at work.
God bless you,
Zimbabwe Family
If on the off chance you would like to support this family in their physical need and in their ministry you can make a check out to the Charlotte Christian Reformed Church. In the notation space in the left hand corner of the check designate it as Zimbabwe.
The Church’s mailing address is
Charlotte Christian Reformed Church
421 State Street
Charlotte, Michigan 48813
My Kingdom Is Not Of This World
“‘My kingdom is not of [ek: out from] this world,'” is a statement about the source — not the nature — of His reign, as the epexegetical ending of the verse makes obvious: ‘My kingdom is not from here [enteuthen].’ The teaching is not that Christ’s kingdom is wholly otherworldly, but rather that it originates with God Himself (not any power or authority found in creation.”
Dr. Greg Bahnsen
God & Politics — pg. 27
B. F. Wescott speaking of John 18:36 could comment,
“Yet He did claim a sovereignty, a sovereignty of which the spring and the source was not of earth but of heaven. My Kingdom is not of this world (means it) does not derive its origin or its support from earthly sources.”
The Gospel According To John — pg. 260
John 18:36 along with Matthew 22:15-22 are two of the passages that are often put forth as defeaters for the comprehensive sovereignty of the Lord Jesus over this world. Bahnsen clearly shows here, quite in agreement with the Greek scholar B. F. Westcott, that God’s Kingdom, as it manifests itself in this world, is energized by a source outside this world. This is important to emphasize because many people read John 18:36 as proof that the Kingdom of Jesus does not and should not express itself in this world. Often this verse is appealed to in order to prove that God’s Kingdom is only “spiritual” and as such Christians shouldn’t be concerned about what are perceived as “non-spiritual” realms. Support for such thinking, if there is any, must come from passages other than John 18:36.
So I took this test and this is what it said … INTP
I usually don’t like these things but I thought this one got it right — both good and bad.
Rational Portrait of the Architect (INTP)
Architects need not be thought of as only interested in drawing blueprints for buildings or roads or bridges. They are the master designers of all kinds of theoretical systems, including school curricula, corporate strategies, and new technologies. For Architects, the world exists primarily to be analyzed, understood, explained – and re-designed. External reality in itself is unimportant, little more than raw material to be organized into structural models. What is important for Architects is that they grasp fundamental principles and natural laws, and that their designs are elegant, that is, efficient and coherent.
Architects are rare – maybe one percent of the population – and show the greatest precision in thought and speech of all the types. They tend to see distinctions and inconsistencies instantaneously, and can detect contradictions no matter when or where they were made. It is difficult for an Architect to listen to nonsense, even in a casual conversation, without pointing out the speaker’s error. And in any serious discussion or debate Architects are devastating, their skill in framing arguments giving them an enormous advantage. Architects regard all discussions as a search for understanding, and believe their function is to eliminate inconsistencies, which can make communication with them an uncomfortable experience for many.
Ruthless pragmatists about ideas, and insatiably curious, Architects are driven to find the most efficient means to their ends, and they will learn in any manner and degree they can. They will listen to amateurs if their ideas are useful, and will ignore the experts if theirs are not. Authority derived from office, credential, or celebrity does not impress them. Architects are interested only in what make sense, and thus only statements that are consistent and coherent carry any weight with them.
Architects often seem difficult to know. They are inclined to be shy except with close friends, and their reserve is difficult to penetrate. Able to concentrate better than any other type, they prefer to work quietly at their computers or drafting tables, and often alone. Architects also become obsessed with analysis, and this can seem to shut others out. Once caught up in a thought process, Architects close off and persevere until they comprehend the issue in all its complexity. Architects prize intelligence, and with their grand desire to grasp the structure of the universe, they can seem arrogant and may show impatience with others who have less ability, or who are less driven.
You can take the test here,
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Reduce your sentence … Commit a love crime
The State of Michigan, not wanting to fall behind the times, has decided that it wants to pass hate crimes legislation. Now here is something I just can’t get my mind around. I mean, I always grew up believing that the motive behind just about any crime was hate. I have never heard of the idea that there could be such a thing as a “love crime.”
It really does boggle the mind. Here we have a criminal who beats the snot out of some guy and we throw the book at him, not primarily because he beat the snot out of the guy, but rather because he hated him? What genius thinks up these laws? Do they really think that criminals sit around thinking about killing someone only to be brought up short of such intent because they think, “Damn it, I’d kill the guy but I know I’d get booked for a hate crime.”(?)
Then there is the whole issue of the message it sends to potential victims. Two victims on the same night both get mugged in separate instances two blocks apart. Lamont got mugged by Leroy but Han Lee got mugged by Reggie. Lamont had two knife wounds and a bullet in his leg. Han Lee walked away with a black and blue eye. But because both Lamont and Leroy were black Lamont only gets 3-5 years. However, because Han Lee was Asian Reggie gets 10-20 years because it was a hate crime. I guess Han Lee is more important then Leroy.
Yep, that makes sense.
Here is the moral of the story. If you’re going to commit a crime, make sure that you tell your victim, “Honey, I love you.”
If this culture gets any stranger I’m going to have to start sizing myself up for straight jackets.