Tag Archives: West Europe

by Marcus Ampe | 2018/03/03 · 5:33 pm

It’s Time real lovers of God to Stand and Speak Out!

On one article we reblogged over here (and as such did not write it ourselves) and in which there were used popular words by youngsters, somebody felt offended. It looks like she could not feel any empathy with the generation we and the author of the original article were talking about and brought herself calling us stupid people, though missing the whole point of that article and the discussion around it.

Extended Coloured family from South Africa showing some spectrum of human skin colouration

In our world we see still too many people who want to differentiate between skin colour and race. They continue to demand that there would be called or named the differences between people who live at the same place, instead of accepting everybody who lives there for what he is and for how he looks like. They insist that people who live already for many generations in a certain country or area would still have a referral to that long ago place of origin as if that place of origin of so many generations ago brought a blemish on that person. It looks like many do want that lots of people keep running around with the stain of their past and long death ancestors.

Today we see again a movement going on to put on all people labels, like Moroco, Turkish, Arabic, Berber, Afro-American, etc.. Though those people may already live here for the 3rd, 4th or even 5th generation. As we spoke about the trend the Dutch Press requesting not to use the word ‘blank’ (fair) but now to use ‘wit’ (white) opposite ‘zwart’ (black) instead of ‘kleurling (coloured). Whilst certain newspapers still shall continue words as ‘blank’ and ‘kleurling’ (coloured) not looking at the different skin colour as something negative. Clearly the colour of the skin has become again a point of discussion and we are back to the way of return and pre-Martin Luther King-times, or the time of racial segregation with Apartheid.

Iranian-Belgian human rights activist Darya Safai playtoy of the rightwing political parties trying to limit the freedom of expression and freedom of religion

Several politicians are doing their best to come back to such a time and many migrants are helping them without them having a proper knowledge of what is happening. As such we may find the Iranian dentist Darya Safai who is used as a plaything by the Flemish Nationalists and/or right-wing political parties. The Iranian-Belgian human rights activist grew up in the Islamic Republic of Iran after the revolution of 1979. We can clearly see how she got traumatised with her experiences in Iran. There she experienced at first hand how it was to live as an oppressed woman in a religious dictatorship. But now she thinks this would also be so in Belgium or the countries around us. She insist that parents would have no say on the religious education they want to give at home and want to prohibit any person in our country to wear religious symbols or to have traditional attire. She finds the schools must prohibit any religious dress-code. By doing so she wants the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression and the freedom of clothing restricted. By doing so see also endangers our democratic freedom.

After she was temporarily released on bail, she decided to flee Iran together with husband via Turkey to Belgium. Instead of seeing that we want to be a free country where everybody should be able to live next to each other she now wants to create an other Iran where she shall be on the side of the dictators or decision makers. Though she says she wants to fight against discrimination she tries to bring in discriminating measures, having children nor their parents the right to choose their own religion and how they want to be religious.

In December 2016, Darya Safai was awarded the title ‘Women Of Peace’ by the Belgian Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities at the Belgian Senate, for her fight for women’s rights, though at that time it was already clear she had a more unpleasant agenda.

Last week when a state school was ordered to let 11 young girls (age 12) to wear their hijab to school inspite their ban on all religious symbols Safai went into heavy reaction again helping to have a growing stir in the debate

because when a judge rules that specific people can ignore a rule that counts for everyone, it will cause more division.

It is true that now other Muslim, Sikh, Jewish parents can go to court and achieve the same override for their kid. On the other hand by Safai her actions to forbid head-covering we now have Sikh kids in Sint-Truiden (Haspengouw Hesbaye), who cannot go any more to a state- or to a Catholic school because they are not allowed in with their head covering. For them and for those who want to wear a head-covering the only solution is to go to a private school. Safai forgets that this would cost the parents a lot more and that such private schools of a certain religion endangers our society more, because than there is no control by the school directorate and then the way to indoctrination is totally free and would be unnoticed. We also could see what happened already in one of the Antwerp Jewish schools a few weeks ago. We must be very careful with an overprotection and giving the opportunity to have youngsters drifting away.

Safai seems to think the same rules count over here as in her birthplace. She argues that the choice to wear a headscarf is not made by girls themselves. By this she underestimate the strong will of many Belgian girls. She says

“It’s not a free choice, when I see six-year-old girls wearing headscarves, I really wonder how they could decide that for themselves-it’s imposed on you and you live with them.”

For Safai the girls their head-covering is indeed a symbol of oppression.

“Men do not wear headscarves, that’s the best proof,”

Orthodox Christian pilgrim

said Safai, to which Vanhecke replied

“With Jews, only the men wear a yarmulke, and that is not seen as a symbol of oppression,”

Safai also forgets or probably does not know that in West Europe all kids from the 1940ies to 1960ies have had to cover their head as girls and we as boys had to cover (like the girls also) our limbs. No bare arms or are knees where to be seen and women at to sit on the left side of the church. It is all still clear in our head also, how our parents and when we went swimming in the sea we had to cover most of our body. (Later, as hippies we went against those restrictions and ran even naked in nature.) And now a few years later what had to happen then suddenly should not be allowed any more. She also does it as if the head-covering is only a Muslim matter, forgetting that still today many religious Christian groups prescribe head-covering for their members.

Roman Catholic nuns – Roman Catholic nuns singing in choir. – Smith2006

Throughout the centuries of Church history, women have worn head coverings during the meetings of the church – that is, when “praying or prophesying” take place. In Europe the wearing of fabric head coverings in worship was also universally the practice of Christian women until the twentieth century and in several Reformed churches, Baptists, Christadelphian, Brethren and various Mennonites it is still the custom for young and old. In the South of Europe we may find lots of nuns of the Roman Catholic churches with a covering of their heads, whilst many women in the South (like Spain and Italy) still often have the head covering by means of a headscarf. In Eastern Orthodox churches, all women still cover their heads. With the old believers this may only be a headscarf, with the other Eastern Orthodox it may also be a veil.

Vanhecke, with good reason, thinks girls are also oppressed if they are not allowed to wear the headscarf.

“A religion obliges the headscarf, a society forbids it, that is the same principle.”

“You interfere in a fundamental right of parents to make choices for their children,”

says Vanhecke.

That what Safai tries to avoid she helps to create. One should avoid that we get such private religious schools as only possibility for religious people to give their kids an education. When we would have such specific Jewish, Hindu and/or Islam schools we make it much easier to have them a specific religious education or indoctrination and creating a generation which would be less adapted in our culture than those who grow up together with all sorts of kids from different nationalities and different religions. Instead of integrating them in a multicultural society Safai shall help to create a divided society with lots of racism.

So needless to say this situation actually causes the very religious division that the ban on head-covering tries to avoid.

Mieke Vanhecke (CD & V), ex-top woman of Catholic education, pleaded in Terzake for the right to wear a headscarf at school. Darya Safai (N-VA) continues to see it as a symbol of oppression. Vanhecke argues that not only Muslims are victims of the headscarf debate.

“A ban on headgear not only affects Muslims,”

says Vanhecke.

“In Sint-Truiden there were never any problems, the Sikh boys came to school with a turban, because of the ban they no longer have access to our school.”

Safia is convinced that children and young women can not make up their own mind what to wear. For her children nor women who wear the hijab impossibly can do that of their own will and impossibly can be happy clothing themself that way. Many like her she see misogyny and are convinced that they must be under dictation of a male dictator or male bully. Often we hear voices like

‘Her husband must have forced her’

‘Poor girl, she may not dress like she wants’

Safia like many right wing people can only think of suppression, seeing men’s orders and their power over women. Others love to shout

‘Unveil yourself’,

‘Hide not yourself”

‘Let us see your beauty’

Why should they have such a need to see the beauty of that woman? Why can they not respect that woman like she wants to dress herself?

Those people thinking women or girls who like to wear a head scarf of hijab are pushed by their family, do forget that there are enough strong women in Belgium who can make up their mind themselves. They do not need their fathers or their male partner to dictate what they should wear but even less should they have others to dictate what they should wear or may not wear. That last bit is what Darya Safai and many Nationalists and Neo-Nazis love to do.

Lots of those who call themselves Christian but oppose the freedom of other lovers of God, do forget that by doing so they go in against the Law of God. Their strong actions against Muslims and Jews also clearly show that they do not bear Jesus his teachings of love in their heart. Lots of them also do not understand that wearing a covering on the head may represent an ordainment from God and a submitting to the Most High. There are enough places in Scriptures which talk about such covering and reasons why and when to do it.

Those who are an atheist or do not believe in the One True God should not try to put their law above the Laws of God nor should they urge all others to live like them and to dress like them.

Many also do forget the use of a head-covering can just mean those women liberated themselves from the world and its attitudes. For many believers in the One True God it can mean just empowerment, liberation and freedom. Too many underestimate the European female and think they would be like the women in the Middle East used as slaves by the male figures around them. But we can see strong women who have made up their own mind and by their own choice and by their own intentions they dare to show their faith to others and are not afraid to be mocked at or to be looked at as of ‘not of this world’. They do not want to be of this world but of the world of God. For them that is more important than being a slave of this world where every body assumes he or she is free when they can have sex with as many as they can or drink as much as they want to do all the funniest things one can think of.

Mrs. Safai does as if those girls, when they would wear a head dress, never would be able to integrate in our society or would never be able to get work. When they would not get work because they wear a head covering, does that not tell more about the party who does not want to give her work? And does that not show how certain people do not want others to integrate in our community?

By the way, lots of right wing people do as if those Muslim girls who want to cover their head are foreigners, but a lot are girls and ladies who were before ‘white Belgian citizens’ and even belonging to Catholic families.

That many people are so much afraid that there would be so many converts to Mohammedanism tells also a lot about the weakness of most members of that faith. Lots of Roman Catholics and Protestants even not knowing the Name of God and never having read the Bible. If they would be standing strong in the faith we see no reason why they and others should be so afraid. The other way, Christians should come out and proclaim their faith to those who are no Christian. They should show people that Jesus is the way and show that Jesus his teaching is one of love and of comprehension and compassion. But most Belgians, Dutch and French people just show the opposite, showing their hate against immigrants and people who are different than they or who think differently than they.

Lots of people seem to have forgotten how we and our parents had to cover our body a few decades ago. Lots of them also forget that just because their western values don’t fit with a woman covering her hair and beauty, it still could be a personal choice for that person covering herself. Many do forget that their Western values are way out from our Christian Western values and norms.

Today so many oppose people who have an other opinion. We also see the right wing people wanting so much that every body would dance to their will.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

These days we are going backwards because several people want to push their will unto others. They want an exclusive white state for themselves with only believers in that what they believe and in that what they call Christian values, but are not at all Christian values.

In Belgium we can find more and more Muslim children in community education, especially with regard to other educational networks we may find a larger influx of students from other cultures in general in the state schools. When these children want to show their own faith in the form of clothing, they often do so out of their own convictions, but because these young people are not yet adults, they often take over the prevailing morality of their immediate environment and of society. If we compare this with the Flemish youths of indigenous origin, we notice a big difference, but according to us that is easy to explain. After all, with many Flemish young people there is a great ignorance of the church, while the Muslim children are more often socialized in their ideology.
The total banning of religious signs would thus be a violation of religious freedom. We should resist such a thing.
That a lot of inhabitants of Belgium, Holland and France do not want to stand open for other cultures we should try to avoid in the next generations by introducing the various cultures from the early years in childhood.

Dyab Abou Jahjah in 2008.

The Belgian-Lebanese Arab political activist and writer Dyab Abou Jahjah, claims that

‘hatred in Flanders is mainstream’

and

‘racism determines the agenda’.

When you follow certain reactions and talks it gives the impression not enough people want to react against that dangerous trend.

Christian people should let others know that all people have the same value because we are created by the same One True God. We all are being allowed to live on this globe and are given talents which can be used to help others. All people in a community have to complement each other.
Each person should know that racism devalues people. Non believers should come to see that Christ has broken down racial doors and overcomes divisive thinking by creating for himself a new nation through his death and resurrection. Every Christian should help to build a loving world by showing his love for others, be them of no believe or any other believe than Christianity.
When the politicians are not doing their job properly to build a multicultural peaceful state, the Christians needs to lead the way.
When you are a Christian do not wait until it is too late!

Let your voice be heard and speak up for the weaker ones in our society and for those who humiliated and shut out.

Preceding articles

What is important?

Enough with the Clothes Shaming of Muslim Women

Anti-Semitic pressure driving Jews out of Europe

The Mountain: Radical Love

Additional reading

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Growing anti-Semitism possible sign of certain times

The last five years there was a lot to do about immigrants but also in West Europe several people started showing more hate against Jews and Muslims. The right wing movements have been growing stronger the last decade and many are not afraid tocome on the streets to tell their disgust about Jews and Muslims.

After the Holocaust, in which some six million Jews were exterminated in Nazi occupied Europe between 1942 and 1945 under the National Socialist regime of Adolf Hitler one would think no such hate against Jews would arise. But the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 soon created new antisemitic tensions in the Middle East. In West Europe it was considered at the beginning of the 21st century to exist only on the margins of society. Our present day situation, having to notice more acts against the Jewish people has us to see that anti-semitism is growing again as if the 1930ies did not happen. The prejudice against, the hatred of, or the discrimination against Jews as an ethnic, religious, or racial group, and is widely recognized as a form of racism is back again.

Today we should have the words of Moses in our mind

Deuteronomy 28:37 OJB And thou shalt become an object of horror, a mashal, and a byword, among kol haGoyim whither Hashem shall lead thee.

The name of Jew has long been a proverbial mark of detestation and contempt among all the nations whither they have been dispersed, and is so to this day, whether among Christians, Mohmammedans, or Pagans.

Zechariah 8:13 OJB And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a kelalah (curse) among the Goyim, O Bais Yehudah, and Bais Yisroel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a berakhah; fear not, but let your hands be strong.

Lots of people who call themselves Christian do forget that their lord Jesus Christ was a Jew. They also should see or should have to know that all nations who now worship the true God, and receive the Sacred Scriptures as His word, have derived the whole of their divine knowledge, under God, from Jewish prophets, apostles, and teachers. That the Saviour in whom all nations shall be blessed, sprang from that favoured race, emphatically explains what is meant that they shall be a blessing. The full accomplishment of this prediction in Zecharia, however, is probably reserved for the future restoration of the Jews, which for sure shall come.

On account of what we can see now we would not have much to believe that the Jews are such a blessed people. As in the old times Israel was entering a very dangerous environment in Canaan and needed strong warnings against yielding to the temptations she would encounter, we should see the many warnings in Scripture also for today. We do know we can’t avoid the suffering people try to bring over us. It is known from Scriptures that Israel would suffer physical distresses, and that her enemies would plunder and oppress her. As freedom from Egypt came to epitomize God’s grace in the past, so return to Egyptian conditions represented His judgment and now in the time that many Jews come to live in the Promised Land, others may come to hate their divine position.

The people in ancient times were commanded, when they should come into possession of the Promised Land, to erect two pillars (probably suggesting the permanency and authority of the Law) and an altar, for sacrifice and propitiation in case of failure to keep God’s law (Deuteronomy 27:1-8). When looking at the present Jewish state we notice that there are several non-religious Jews who go in against the Laws of God. They know and consider Israel as their Promised Land, but they forget the conditions for them being allowed to be resident in it.

The elohim has it about “foreigners” or “strangers” living on this globe, we having to know as lovers of God we would be “aliens” for those of this world. So it can be idle hope to think goyim would come to be willing to accept us and to have our faith in One true God respected.

The growing xenophobia we can see for us can also be sign which we may not ignore as a sign of coming end-times. Because we can see the augmentation of earthquakes and tsunamis as well as the increase of people setting others against others, religions against religions.

The rising fixation with Jewish power in our time has unwittingly revealed Jewish emasculation instead. Jews do not control the discourse; rather, the discourse controls them.

is said by the Community Security Trust (CST) which works across the Jewish community, from the most religious to the most secular, young to old, across the political spectrum and throughout the whole of the UK.

In their aim to bring more hate against the Jewish people we find people who are not afraid to bring false news, like telling that that Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev were both assumed names and that the men had been born Baruch Yeltzer and Mikhail Solomonovich Gorbachev (his real patronymic is Sergeyevich). In other words, the architects of Russian misery after the collapse of the Soviet Union were secret Jews, according some.

This was outlandish even by the standards of eastern European antisemitism. It was also hypermarginal in the media. You had to buy pamphlets on the street to read about plots to dilute the purity of the Russian race by a cabal of Jews/Zionists (the two words were interchangeable). Then came the internet. These days you are never more than a couple of clicks away from weapons-grade antisemitism.

writes the political columnist Rafael Behr in the Guardian.

But it still comes as a shock when one of the oldest and most versatile themes of the genre – the Jewish financier, dandling politicians on puppet strings, coordinating events in the shadows – finds its way on to the front page of a national British newspaper.

And that way not only the English newspaper The Daily Telegraph create a possible subtext which certain people misuse to contaminate the Jewish name.

Following the article’s publication on Thursday February the 8th, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, Nick Timothy was accused of anti-Semitism in the front-page exclusive he co-authored, and which RT UK along with many other national outlets picked up.

Anti-Semitism accusations leveled at the Telegraph following its George Soros ‘exclusive’

George Soros(L) , Nick Timothy(R) -© AFP / Global Look Press

The article outlines how Soros, described by the Telegraph as the “man who broke the Bank of England” in reference to the fortune he made betting against the sterling in the 1990s, is attempting to undermine the Tory government by donating £400,000 (US$560,000) to pro-EU group Best for Britain. The group is campaigning for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal agreed between Parliament and the EU.

The accusations of anti-Semitism were made by Guardian columnist Owen Jones, academic Bonnie Greer and King’s College professor Jonathan Portes, among others. Portes drew a response from Timothy when he asked if he and the right-wing paper were really endorsing “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”

Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard highlighted the controversial implications of using the phrase “secret plot.”

Telegraph story is disturbing because of the use of the idea it’s a “secret plot.” Soros is incredibly open about what he does. Say it’s wrong; fine. But idea it’s a secret plot is exactly the line being used in Hungary and elsewhere precisely because he is Jewish.

James Ball writes

This needs saying clearly: baiting people on George Soros conspriacy theories is a tactic currently being used by would-be autocrats and anti-Semitic groups across the world.
Theresa May and Conservative MPs should distance themselves from this tactic, and fast. https://twitter.com/markdistef/sta

This was just one incident in Great-Britain, where the Jewish community was targeted at a rate of nearly four times a day last year, according to statistics from the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors antisemitism, which recorded 1,382 antisemitic incidents nationwide in 2017.

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Additional reading

3 Comments

Filed under Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, History, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as 21° Century, Anti-Semitism, Antisemitic tensions, Antisemitism, Bonnie Greer, Boris Yeltsin, Community Security Trust (CST), End-times, James Ball, Jonathan Portes, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nick Timothy, Owen Jones, Racism, Rafael Behr, Right wing movements, Stephen Pollard, West Europe

by Guestspeaker | 2017/08/04 · 12:42 pm

Preaching as Public Speaking

Jesus has given his followers the task to go out into the word to preach the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God.

2020 years after the master teacher his birth the Church has gone fare away from his teachings. In many church-groups or denominations we can find that human doctrines have won and that the people in the congregation or church community prefer to keep to human tradition instead of holding to the biblical teachings and Godly holy days.

“I want to preach a sermon. . .” – NARA – 514567 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Disappointed by the many contradicting teachings, ideas and having seen so many pastors, ministers and priests not living according to the Law of God and the law of human decency, lots of people got enough of the hypocrisy of those churches. Today we can only see (nearly) empty churches all over West Europe.

For sure the Body of Christ needs some fresh blood and some good ‘Punch’. Anno 2017 it looks like the church is gone ‘pubering’ again and in need of some acné products, trying to get rid of the puperal pimples or the sickness of the capitalist world where man has increased his position to godly status, so many thinking they are god themselves and play for god.

This world need preachers or speakers who are not afraid to give those immature consumers a tick on their bum. some even can use some figurative slap in the face to wake them up.

Most important to come over as some one sincere and credible is that the one who wants to speak for God he or she, himself or herself beliefs in the Most High and in His only begotten son. In the preacher has to burn the light of faith before he can go to others for trying to convince them to see that light in the darkness.
First there has to be conviction and persuasion in the preacher’s heart, glowing very strongly, to have the fire in the eyes, with such a kind and sweet heart that people would become eager to taste that sweetness and listen to what that person has to tell.

With the hate and vile language we can find lots of Christians spreading today on the internet and in common speech on the streets, they shall not be able to attract others to love them or to love what they tell.

Today we also find lots of Christians who preach there has a war started by the Muslims against the Christians. They forget that lots of Christians are setting themselves against the Islam. They do not see they have fallen in the trap of the false Muslims who not only have done a lot of damage to Islam but also want to destabilise the whole world.

It is up to the preachers who call themselves Christian to show the love of Christ and to share that agape love with all people around them, atheists, other believers (be them Muslims or from an other faith).

Without the love of Christ and without the burning fire of faith in the own heart, the preacher his gained ‘technique’ shall be quickly uncovered by the truth, so let him first get to the core of the Bible and teach that biblical Truth instead of human doctrines, and let he or she be unbiased, open to all people and not to just a few of a certain race or group.

*

To remember

preaching = divine task + form of public speaking

preaching involves spiritual dynamics + oratory skills = technical aspect of preaching < form of public speaking => skills revolving around use + proper utilization + creative use of voice, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures + movements.

no methodology holy

Only written words of God in Bible are holy

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Preceding articles

Several Christians fail to recognise the Chosen ones of God and are not taking on a Christian attitude

To proclaim the day of vengeance

What makes you following Christ and Facebook Groups

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Additional reading

The business of this life

The task given to us to love each other

Parish, local church community – Parochie, plaatselijke kerkgemeenschap

People who know how to pray to move God to take hold of our affairs in a mighty way

Pulpit reserved for the pastor

Notification and news feed for Facebook users

Bring praise to the Creator

The essence of church

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Further reading

Why are Christians so nosey about other peoples affairs

What, we agree? Compatible issues in a disagreeable world

Is a Religious War in Europe Imminent?

Bias, and Disagreeing with Something

Can we not be civil and simply disagree?

“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give”

Are you ready for this?

You Summon and Send Us, three prayers based on Matthew 10

Bearing Witness

On the Power of Hospitality…

“When I Could Stand it No Longer….”

Being A Witness for Christ

Proclaim

Politics and Preaching

Good enough for ministry?

What builds the Church?

Back to Baby Steps

Book Blurb: Biblical Preaching

3 Steps to Make the Message Stick

5 Lessons from the Mission Field

Owen on Preaching, Sinclair on Children and Christ

Speech

Finding My Voice

The Foolishness of Preaching

Jonah — Belief Contradicted by Behavior! (Part 3)

Calvin: Ministers Ought Not to Steal

J.C. Ryle on “Jelly-Fish” Sermons

Unfurling the Word

Let’s keep our message offensive

Let’s keep our message offensive, part two

Preaching to the Late Modern Mind: Five Cultural Narratives to Know

Preparing to Preach

Preaching and Faithfulness

The Courage to Preach

Pastoral Theology

Reflections

Care for Others

Faithful Congregations Share the Good News

Charles Spurgeon on Spiritual Gleaning

The Dispensation of Grace

Stirring the Pot with Grace…

Psalm 64:9 Pondering God’s Work

How to Have a Successful Ministry

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You may not understand His plans, but the results will prove that His way is right

Worship and the Christian Life

True, preaching is a divine task, yet basically it is also a form of public speaking. A true preacher will eventually realise that as much as preaching involves spiritual dynamics, it also certainly includes oratory skills. These oratory skills constitute the technical aspect of preaching.

Before I tell about this technical aspect of preaching, or the oratory skills, which make us realise that preaching is a form of public speaking, let me tell first some important points to consider.

The first point is that though the technical side of preaching is important, still the spiritual side is more important. Preaching is firstly divine, then secondly it is public speaking. Preaching achieves eternal spiritual fruits, something that ordinary public speaking can never produce.

The second point to consider is that no methodology is holy, no matter how helpful it is in preaching. The techniques of delivering a sermon are never holy…

View original post 1,674 more words

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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Lifestyle, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, World affairs

Tagged as Agape love, Body of Christ, Bringing Good News, Christian denominations, Christian preachers, Christians, Church community, Church-groups, Congregation, Congregations, Contradicting teachings, Denominations, Eye contact, Facial expressions, Fire of faith, Gestures, Holy Spirit, Human decency, Human doctrines, Light, Light of life, Love of Christ, Ministers, Muslims, Oratory skills, Other believers, Pastors, Playing for God, Prayer, Preacher, Preachers, Preaching, Priests, Proclaiming Good News, Public speaking, Sharing Good News, Spreading Good News, to Preach, to share Good News, Vile language, West Europe, Word of God

by Guestspeaker | 2017/05/25 · 7:28 am

Are you having such days?

At last the sun is showing herself after a very long grey period.

As the Director of Missions at Centreville (Virginia) Presbyterian Church, Sharon Hoover probably encounters enough people who also feel that the days are pulling at their end. She too has to make her way on this planet, amidst the joys and struggles — and also sometimes at a glacial pace — toward maturity as a Christ-follower. Through God’s grace, she also has stumbled upon some wisdom in her five decades.

It’s my joy to share thoughts, raise questions, and explore doubts. {Life’s path meanders}

She managed to take beautiful photographs of the world which tries to give enough signs of the Hand of the Most High Divine Creator. There you can find a.o. God’s paintbrush dipped into all the colours when creating the Rainbow Hot Springs (Yellowstone National Park)
But you might also be confronted with the human beings making an impact on the planet. Some good, some not so good.

She is passionate about creating space where people can experience God. This drive motivates her to disciple new believers, speak, and encourage women in their faith journey.

In her region she has to face the same flight away from church like in our regions. She, like many pastors in West Europe, has struggled as people walk away from her home church.

Relocation for employment or family reasons have taken some members. Others have chosen to leave due to differences of opinion, theology, or purposes. Regardless of the reason, it hurts nonetheless. {Why Choose the Church?}

She is been on a church staff for more than 20 years and has heard many people’s stories.

Their faith journeys often include at least one unhealthy church encounter. In my discussions with leaders of other churches, I know this is not unique to my faith community. Church nomads travel into new places of worship every week. Discouraged from a previous church experience yet wanting to be part of the larger family of God, they consider the possibility of new church home. {Why Choose the Church?}

People may be restless. In some countries they may be lucky to find different denominations, having a choice of lots of churches. In the so called Catholic country Belgium every village had its own Roman Catholic church and in cities different Catholic denominations also could be found as well as different protestant churches. Today most Catholic churches are most of the time empty. The protestant evangelical churches which attract youngsters with their shows and entertainment services still manage to get some few at the service, for which people are prepared to travel some kilometres.

In the United States, of which we so much think of the mega churches, according to Barna’s Trends 2017, church attendance is at an all-time low in that so called Christian State. A mere 35 percent of Americans surveyed reported attending church in the past week. Two-thirds of us chose activity other than being with a faith community. Barna researchers probed further asking why people no longer attend church. Millennials’ responses were especially telling. Their top three answers were:

the church is not relevant to them
they find God elsewhere
they can teach themselves

Sharon Hoover at the Redbud Post writes

Somewhere along the way, we have developed the shortsighted view that church is about our personal experiences. What is in it for me? Choosing to follow Christ is indeed a personal decision, but never was the journey meant to be a solo or private one. After our initial encounter with the Living God, continued growth depends on commitment to a local body of Christ. The church. Internet resources, best-selling books, and a walk in the woods can nurture faith, but it is in community where we learn to love, be patient, show kindness, receive correction, and so much more. {A Love/Hate Relationship with the Church}

Roman Catholic Eucharist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, lots of people have a quaint feeling about religion. Many have a love-hate relationship with God and with the church. Though lots of people still claim to be Christian, we can not see much of a Christian attitude. You would think that as Christ-followers they would belong to the family of God. Today there is not much to see of them loving such an association with the Body of Christ. Though

God created us to be in community (Genesis 2:18; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 1 Corinthians 12:27). This universal Church, the one that includes all who call on the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, draws us into a most unique global space of connectedness. {A Love/Hate Relationship with the Church}

In this globalising world we are constantly confronted with world news and lots of languages. Lots of people can go to many places.

Friends and ministry partners allowed me to travel and experience new cultures. I heard languages I had never heard before, ate exotic foods, and found fellow believers in all corners of our planet.

My husband and I faced several life changing circumstances. We became empty-nesters when our daughter headed out for college. I broke my first bone (ouch, my ankle) and he graciously took care of me. Most profoundly, my precious father-in-law Bob passed on to glory. Bob was loved by all who knew him. We mourn our loss but know that Bob is dancing with the Lord and organizing car trips from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same. {Dipping into Memories}

She still can live with many memories, but for many life goes so fast and they are carried away by social-media and their workload, that they forget to live really and before they know the time is gone, and memories have faded by the overload of junk information.

We notice that there are lots of people who struggle but do not have it in them to write it off or to have positive contacts with others pulling them out of the gutter. When Mrs. Hoover struggles with something, she tend to write a lot.

My initial entry typically makes little sense. It’s an attempt to catalog the crisis. Anger or frustration or animosity emerge in my inability to string words into a legible sentence.

After a while — in some cases it’s the end of that day’s entry, but in other cases, it is weeks or months or years later — my thoughts flow more gracefully. I’m able to find the words. Although the hurt may still be present, I found the ability to grasp my emotions through my journaling. {Journaling: Healing through Private Words}

We may be lucky when we can surrendered emotions onto journal pages, however, the pain flows through the pen and somehow becomes validated.

Pain and confusion take on the form of words. Once we put words to the difficult undercurrents, we begin to move forward in the path of healthy grieving. Faith emerges. A sense of calm replaces the distant and empty feelings. {Journaling: Healing through Private Words}

We get some of those days we can miss like toothache and other days we wonder what we are doing here, whilst other days we would love to happen something here on this earth with us in the centre.

Another day to get dressed, go to work, make dinner, and do the dishes. Also another day to chat with neighbors, meet a friend for coffee, and curl up in my warm bed at night.

But it’s also another day with no burning bush moments like Moses, no Damascus Road experiences like Paul, and certainly no angels like Mary’s Gabriel declaring I had found great favor with the Lord. Again. {Finding Ordinary Perseverance}

Steam phase eruption of Castle Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. The steam from the geyser casting a shadow ot itself creating crepuscular rays. Français : Eruption de vapeur du Castle Geyser à Yellowstone. La vapeur créé un jeu d’ombres et de lumière rappelant des Rayons crépusculaires. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some may have their mantra of the day suggesting they ought to have tweetable thoughts throughout the day, sprinkled with Facebook-worthy posts of witty text message screenshots, along with at least one Instagram photo of their food (even if it’s a failed Pinterest attempt) or their outfit-while-standing-with-hand-on-hip-and-leg-slightly-bent. {Finding Ordinary Perseverance}

How many do not let their thoughts been carried away to dark alleys instead of letting them wander on sunny beaches. Either they find it is again a day they do not want to have any more, or they think it was again a day like any other one, wasted … just another day.

We make ourselves crazy when we feel like we have to “be brave and do something courageous” everyday, or face the pressure of “make today the first day of the rest of my life” everyday, or “be the change you want to see in the world” every moment. It’s exhausting. {Finding Ordinary Perseverance}

It is impossible to make of every day a marvellous day let stand an incredible day. It is also not possible to tackle every day on our own. Some days we need others around us to carry us through the day. Not every day can be totally new and different on all parts.

Sometimes, Friends, the bravest thing we can do is to repeat yesterday. The ordinary. One day at a time.

When we look for momentous events daily in our friendships, parenting, job, marriage, and even faith, we set the stage for disappointment. Contentment remains unreachable when the search for adrenaline rush moments becomes our source of significance and fulfillment. {Finding Ordinary Perseverance}

Let’s just work together to take care of our 3rd rock from the sun.

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Filed under Being and Feeling, Lifestyle, Religious affairs

Tagged as Americans, Catholic churches, Church attendance, Church nomads, Community, Connectedness, Faith community, Globalisation, Millennials, Protestant evangelical churches, Sharon Hoover, Social media, United States of America, West Europe

by Immanuel Verbondskind | 2017/05/09 · 7:08 pm

Anti-Semitic pressure driving Jews out of Europe

It can not go unnoticed, since a decade lots of Jews feel the pressure of the growing anti-Semitism and an aversion against the Divine Creator. Some even feel like it is again as in the 1930ies and the fear is great that Jews could be experiencing the most difficult situation they have encountered since the end of World War II.

Francis Kalifat, Président du Cirf

The Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France is fully aware of the bad situation and the 11th president of it looks at the present situation with Argus eyes. For him the Western world may not neglect the reason why we can see such a record emigration by Jews from France.

For him the year that lies before us is one full of challenges.

I hear pre-conceived ideas and dogma along with populist statements from some, and totalitarian reactions from more radical minds.

he says, looking at our society which is suffering and facing a climate of mistrust. Many French people are afraid or angry and democracy is on the back foot. According to an IPSOS survey taken in November last year, 32% of French people think that other political regimes would be equally effective. They long for a world of times gone by, looking for scapegoats and sweeping changes. This want to find a guilty one we can find back at several occasions in the past and today in many countries all over the world where the far right is gaining popularity.

Racist and anti-Semitic comments creep up out of the sewers, meeting an indifferent response or emerge from the online echo chamber of Facebook friends. And where there are disgraceful comments, there is always someone ready to laugh, offer approval or justification.

remarked Francis Kalifat, the Crif President at a speech at the annual Crif’s dinner 2017, where he said

When I take a step back, I am struck by a profound realisation: those in France who have a problem with Jews and Israel almost always have a problem with democracy, the rule of law and individual liberties. And vice-versa.

Ilan Halimi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Following the murder of Ilan Halimi in 2006 and the massacre at the Ozar Ha Torah school in Toulouse in 2012, anti-Jewish hatred once again reared its ugly head in France on 9^th January 2015 and thus reinforced the feeling of solitude and abandonment that had started to engulf the Jewish community.

Partly because of anti-Semitic violence that included hundreds of anti-Semitic incidents annually in recent years, and dozens of physical assaults, lots of Jewish brethren ans sisters found it wiser to look for other pastures.

Since 2012, attacks on Jewish targets by French Islamists in France and Belgium claimed the lives of 12 people. Last year, roughly 8,000 French Jews left for Israel — the highest number on record for any year, which made France for the second year straight Israel’s largest provider of newcomers.

We heard already of certain quarters which got French names, because so many French people came to settle over there. According to figures seen by AFP in total, 40,000 French Jews have emigrated between 2006 and the end of 2016.

“The aliyah (the act of moving to Israel) of French Jews has been significant over the last decade,”

said Daniel Benhaim, who heads the Israeli-backed group in France, and agreed that insecurity had been a “catalyst” for many Jews who were already thinking of leaving.

The French Jewish community is the biggest in Europe and is thought to number around 500,000 people. In the 1970ies there where also a lot of Jews in Antwerp, but their number has decreased a lot.

The Jewish Museum of Belgium, between the Sablon in central Brussels and Brussels South, pictured in 2009

The Jewish communities form the Benelux and France were shocked in 2006 by the kidnapping and brutal anti-Semitic killing of a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi, in the Paris suburbs, which was followed by a shooting in a Jewish school in the southwest city of Toulouse in 2012.
Two years later on 24 May 2014, in Brussels a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, killing four people. Three died at the scene; a fourth was taken to the hospital and died on 6 June. The attack is being investigated as terrorism by Belgian authorities. Several more threats followed on Belgian as well as on French Jewish sites, often coming from people having links with radical Islamists. By those terrorists many youngster felt called to do horrible things, not even afraid to carry loads of bombs from one place to another. Home made bombs but also professional weapons switched hands easily, to bring fear and terror in name of Allah.

It also did not help that the problems of the settlers in Israel and the relationship between Israeli and Palestinian governement did not progress in the good direction. The anti-Israel resolution of the UN being considered by Israel as a “no” to the possibility of peace. Israel having the impression the UN gave a sign to continue on the path of terrorism and incitement.

Since the attacks of November 2015 the West of the European continent came to realise that it is the whole of our society has come under attack. It is not just any more about Jews, Israel, Christendom, Belgium or France but the citizens their culture, freedom, way of life and world view.

All French people are now aware that they are at threat and we are slowly but surely regaining our position on the national stage. We have always been vigilant and concerned and now we continue to be so. We remain alert and know that we are still the preferred target of Islamist totalitarianism. Today, we are no longer indifferent targets.

said Francis Kalifat.

Some now may have come to think it is more a battle against Islam. they should know fighting against Islam is as wrong as fighting against Judaism or Christianity. the world has to see it are just a few extremists who make life difficult for a whole group of people. Because the Brussels attacks of March 22, 2016 and later the Marseille and Nice attacks the governments focused Islamic terrorists and people where more afraid of such further terrorist acts. This made that 2016 saw a net drop in anti-Semitic acts and threats: a 58% reduction compared with 2015, though anti-Islamic acts also dropped by the same amount.

Kalifat warned that nevertheless, anti-Semitism remains at a historic high. Jewish people, who represent under 1% of the population, remained a focal point of over 30% of all reported racist acts committed in France throughout 2016, being subject to 335 anti-Semitic acts and threats.

The tell-tale signs of anti-Semitism never seem to be far away.

Probably less Jews where victims of harassment because the Jewish quarters had everywhere soldiers patrolling. The increased police patrols also made lost of place less vulnerable, which can also be seen in the lesser amount of robberies.

Leaders of French Jewry may have expressed both relief over the defeat of the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the presidential elections and concern over her receiving more than a third of the vote, they may not forget that those 11 million voters for the extreme right party can perhaps be only part of the many right wingers who would love all Jews and Muslims out of their ‘Catholic’ country.

Joel Mergui, the president of the Consistoire, was very fast to react on Sunday evening in a statement by his group, which is responsible for providing religious services to Jews to say he was happy with the result of Emmanuel Macron being elected president,

“which constitutes a veritable relief for all our nation and for the Jewish community of France”.

Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia, who is employed by the Consistoire, also spoke of his satisfaction from the vote. But in his statement, Korsia also referenced concerns over the support shown to Le Pen and those who would like to ban wearing Jewish and Muslim religious symbols in public, ritual slaughter and the provision of pork-free meals in school cafeterias, like they also have done in Belgium.

The ban for the religious symbols in the Belgian state schools is idiotic, because state-schools should just show they are free of any religious bias and that they are open to all sorts of religion. That ban is already some years in use by several Belgian schools and recently some complaints where made that elderly homes and prisons still provided pork-free meals. at first there was only a ban on ritual slaughter in private homes by ordinary citizens, but from 2017 onward there shall be a total ban of ritual slaughter in Belgium, which shall make it very difficult for religious Jews, Muslims and certain Christians to have kosher or halal meat from the own country. As long as importation would not be a problem, work of it can made that way, but it will also undermine the countries own economy.

Kalifat, who has lobbied intensively in favour of Macron in recent days, wrote optimistically on Twitter that everything starts now.

And that is what we can hope for … that a new start is made to bring non-Jews to come to understand why certain regulations are so important for the Jewish community, who want to put God’s mitzvot above the laws of man.

Also it is getting time that non-Jews come to see that there is a difference between secular (or apikorsim) – political Jews and religious Jews, who want to live according to the Law of God.

We only can hope that the new French president shall make work to bring Europeans of all sorts of religions together to live in peace and that he with the European Unions also shall try to get both parties Israel to come to negotiate directly in order to reach a point where they can live side by side in peace and security. All parties involved should recognise that as well as for Jews, Christians and Muslims, all having their faith build on the same root, our patriarch Abraham, that for all of them Jerusalem is a holy place. Real lovers of God, be them Jews, Christians or Muslims do know that Jerusalem in the end shall become the capital of the world. Therefore the lovers of God should also stimulate their politicians to get the political groups around the table to find a good solution for reconciliation and lasting peace.

I would love to see that all shall be able to come to believe that big picture Mr Kalifar wished to reiterate

that Israel is a democracy, a State respecting the rule of law and a country of freedoms. It is a democracy which has held 5 general elections since 2003 and now counts 13 Arab members among a total of 120 in the Knesset. This State, which respects the rule of law, is also home to a Supreme Court and judges whose independence is renowned and rulings are just. It is a country where all are free to practice or change religion, or indeed not to follow one at all. It is a country where Jews, Christians and Muslims are afforded access to their holy sites within the ancient city of Jerusalem. June 2017 will see the 50^th anniversary of that freedom. Previously, and for centuries, Jews could do no more than dream of and pray for as much.

Preceding

Kindertransport

Apocalyptic Extremism: No Longer a Laughing Matter

Seeds from the world creating division and separation from God

What to do in the Face of Global Anti-semitism

The Rise of Anti-Seminism

If you’re going to be a hater, make sure you’ve done your homework.

Dr. Miller looking at Jews in France

Bringers of agony, Trained in Belgium and Syria

Bruxelles Ma Belle

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Please read also:

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Seeds from the world creating division and separation from God

These days we can find more than one politician trying to sow division in his own country and in the world. The are very handy bullies who can keep their outlook unchanged like a good strong high quality wig. their periwig may be their trade mark, hiding what is underneath that peruke. Like postiches are fake people may not forget those words spoken by such politicians may also be fake.

We can hear those politicians, which claim to be Christians, picking on Jews, Muslims and immigrants, trying to hide the internal more important matters, and trying to please the people their tickling ears, who want to find a scapegoat for all the problems of their own country. The last few years our Jewish community already felt the pressure, having to face an increase of bullying, making that several Jews decided to leave Belgium and to go to Israel, where the violence seems to frighten them less than here in Belgium.

Shoebat asks why Christians, before they start ‘picking on Jewish, Muslim or immigrant dumpsters, are joining another dumpster instead of cleaning up the growing neopaganism in their own backyard?’

Fact is, so many, be they Catholic, Orthodox or Evangelical, are looking the other way, that for the sake of being anti-immigrant, they support the heathen. {The Greatest Abandonment Of Christianity In The West Is Happening And The Whole World Is Being Plunged Into Paganism As Biblical Prophecies Reveal}

He should know, like the whole world should know, that at this present day satan, the adversary of God, is throwing a lot of seeds on this globe which shall infect many other seeds wanting to grow up on this earth which is warming up for a less pleasant climate change and for bad times to come.

It are those seeds sown by the adversary of God, which are clearly no seeds of love, or seeds of peace, who by growing up, getting bigger than the slower growing seeds of godly people, that want to convince those who believe in the True God, that they are wrong and that they should believe in the god of the world, making that they shall have it much better than now as believing naive guys.

Those contemporary seeds want those who believe those very old books to come to see that the symbols they are carrying are the signs for better times. They are proud of their tattoos which should be a sign for the world that the world belongs to them. In a way, they are right. The world belongs to them. God has given the world in the hands of man. The adversary of God already for some time has the right to proof to the Divine Maker he can do it better than the Creator Himself.

In ancient times there where the idols of Egypt and it looks like we are gone back to them. We can see many carrying again those very well known symbols of the sun and pagan elements.

Europe and many of the slavs are veering away from Christ’s church returning back in masse to pre-Christian paganism, all with deities that honor “the sun” just as John predicted in Revelations. {The Greatest Abandonment Of Christianity In The West Is Happening And The Whole World Is Being Plunged Into Paganism As Biblical Prophecies Reveal}

At the closing times there will be division. People shall come to fight each other for many reasons, one of which religion shall taken as a point of discussion. The different religious groups fighting against each other, even Christians forgetting the agapé love of the preaching of Christ and his apostles, not willing to be open minded for people who have an other faith or come from other nations.

Isaiah 19 speaks of neopaganism spread from Egyptian mythology which will be the hallmark of the world prior to Christ’s coming. The ultra-nationalist movements from Europe all the way to slavic nations derive from Thor, the sun god in Norse mythology was also the Egyptian Osiris and Kneph, the Phœnician Bel or Baal, and it is accepted freely when slavic neopagans call upon the same God when they invoke Perun.

The American and European Alt-Right’s obsession with a mythical ancient Egyptian deity, Kek, is also Egyptian, while “the Hindus, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Celts have all yielded striking comparisons [to each other], and the Norse Gods display significant resemblances to members of other pantheons” (A History of the Vikings, Oxford University Press, P.p, 319). {The Greatest Abandonment Of Christianity In The West Is Happening And The Whole World Is Being Plunged Into Paganism As Biblical Prophecies Reveal}

In the previous years we could feel how the right wing movements became more into the light, not hiding any more, but shouting loud, wanting to get rid of Jews and Muslims. Again Christian churches where silent, in the same way a mosques did not come out to tell people ISIS and other Muslim fundamentalists where not real Muslims but bringers of hate, not acting like a Muslim should do.

All over Europe we can see the right wing parties getting stronger, making people afraid of the Muslims, Jews and of those who come to look for refuge. The refugees and immigrants are not welcome for them. There is no place in their heart to foster for those in need or fleeing from the war regions in the East or South.

The Lambda. The symbol of identitarians and many neo-Nazis

Shoebat writes

The devil will use antisemitism, stupid, where every evil is blamed on the Jews. And this is currently brewing like never before since WWII. While critiquing Jews is valid, the evil is this unbalanced view that is sweeping western nations like a storm accusing Jews to supersede gentiles in doing mischief. And its coming from claiming Christians who do not consider that antisemitism in Christianity is a heresy, condemned by the church as mortal sin since it stems from ultra-nationalists leading their nations to commit genocide. Today, there is a tremendous rise in antisemitism. It has become a silent reality getting us ever closer to fulfilling Zechariah 12. {A Horrific Storm Of Evil Is Rising Up And Is Sweeping The World, It Is Leading Europe Into The Hands Of The Antichrist}

According to him

Saddam Hussein, also spelled Ṣaddām Ḥusayn, in full Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti whose brutal rule was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars against neighbouring countries.

The first phase began around three decades ago when the West declared war hailing Saddam Hussein as the major threat to the world. And when the true prophets warned “this is a bad idea” the prophets were burned alive. Then it took a decade or two to recognize the prophets were right all along.

Then the next evil phase began when a new spring gushed forth out of the bottomless pit declaring that Middle East dictators are the major threat to the world. The false prophets declare it “an Arab Spring” and they blessed it. And when the true prophets said “this too is wickedness” more true prophets were burned alive. The west then went full-throttle on pumping this Arab Spring to gush forth the waters which became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

The west, as it turns out, commenced an evil plan. Germany aided the Islamist evil dragon Turkey which spewed a flood of Muslim immigrants, locusts if you will, into the heartland of Europe. Now the European masters did not have to convince the masses to aid in the ultimate evil plan, the third phase. Instead the masses on their own declared and complained to their masters that aided and abetted this wormwood shouting that the Muslim immigration is the ultimate major threat to the world. {A Horrific Storm Of Evil Is Rising Up And Is Sweeping The World, It Is Leading Europe Into The Hands Of The Antichrist}

We can clearly see how anti-Semitism was growing in Europe and now has reached the United States of America as well. It is stemming not just from the typical anti-Israel liberals, but according to Shoebath from western conservatives who do not heed Zechariah’s warning.

Today the rise of neopaganism reveals a disturbing trend becoming the fastest growing religion globally and is also virulently antisemitic and contra-believers of God, be it Jews, real or non-trinitarian Christians or real Muslims. We should be alert that there are also groups who may see what is happening to the Jews but want to blame the followers of the prophet Mohammed, making people afraid of those believers of One God.

We must be careful, for those who are trying to frighten people for the worshippers of Allah. First of all those making others afraid of the worshippers of Allah, is that they forget ‘Allah’ is a title which denotes a god and the God. In Belgium and many other countries ‘Allah’ does not pose so many problems because it is a general title being used to denote a god or God, Who gets also other titles over here like ‘Ene’ or ‘Enige’ (‘One’ or ‘Only One’), Elohim, Dieu and Gott, el (not for the girl of female ‘el’) and El Shadai. I got the impression on the net (for the short time I’m presenting there my own ‘Immanuel site’ or blog) that English speaking people want all others to use the same word for God as they do and how many say the Jews killed Jesus and therefore should be punished and done with. (It would be the same as Jews now saying to a Caucasian “you killed my forefathers so I have to kill you’, though perhaps it could well be that this Caucasian’s father or grand parent really has Jewish blood on his hands, though Christ was long ago put to death not by Jews but by the Romans, which many Christians seem to forget.). Some even want that we all would speak English and use what is according to them the only valuable Bible ‘The King James Version’ as if God would only want to reach His people in English. The other-way round in some Muslim countries there are leaders wanting to forbid Catholics and protestants to use the general term for god or God ‘allah’ because they claim ‘Allah’ is only the God of Muslims. Both should know that Allah is the God of all. They also should know that Allah or God has a name which is even Holy or set-apart, and which should be known all over the world. That Holy Name is Jehovah and is the Name given to the Most High Almighty God of gods, Who is a Spirit and not a human being or a being of flesh, blood and bones, like Jesus Christ was. He is also a singular God and Being One He wants all to worship Him alone and not having people bowing down in front of graven images or making any pictures or sculptures of Him or any other gods.

ps-copy

Today we can see that the pagan rituals are very much increasing again and that lots of people prefer to take part in those human rituals and pagan festivals, instead of holding to the festivals the Most High Elohim has given or demands His people to keep.

By having gone so far away from the mitzvah or commandments of God, man became ‘bewildered’ and has lost the North. Not having a good compass any more man has chosen for the wrong and more attractive paths.

Walid Shoebat seems not to believe that his American compatriots are also infested with the same pesticide as the European evangelicals. He writes

Most Americans think that Evangelicals are the same universality, believing that these are ‘Israel flag wavers’ just like them. The American evangelical being unique is the most ill-informed. When it comes to this issue, they do not realize that the bulk of what identifies itself as European Evangelicals are quite the different breed. Germany is exploding with Odin worship with a church in kahoot with it, while in the U.S. Evangelicals don’t say much fearing to appear as pro-immigrant. {The Greatest Abandonment Of Christianity In The West Is Happening And The Whole World Is Being Plunged Into Paganism As Biblical Prophecies Reveal}

and continues

While westerners are made to focus on “creeping Sharia,” they forget how Christians in Germany welcomed “creeping Nazism”. The rise of Nazism in 1933 upheld “Christian values”. Just as the Next News Network, Gary Franchi Jr, the Evangelical supporting the Soldiers of Odin for their good deeds, likewise, during Nazi Germany, Germans were persuaded by the statement on “positive Christianity”:

“We demand the freedom of all religious confessions in the state, insofar as they do not jeopardize the state’s existence or conflict with the manners and moral sentiments of the Germanic race. The Party as such upholds the point of view of a positive Christianity without tying itself confessionally to any one confession. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit at home and abroad and is convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only be achieved from within on the basis of the common good before individual good.” (from Article 24, 1920 Nazi Party Platform)

And just as these deceived Europeans during Nazism, they are doing it again. Everything repeats, there is nothing new under the sun.

And just as it was in WWII, what they all have in common is “antisemitism” “ultra-nationalism,” and a “racialized” understanding of morality.

Kirchenratswahlen am 23. Juli 1933: Wahlpropaganda mit SA-Unterstützung vor der St.-Marien-Kirche am Neuen Markt in Berlin

And if one thinks it is the Catholic, or the Orthodox who were the main players, I remind, it was the Evangelicals in Germany who were the bulk of the masses deceiving while being deceived in the 1930s. These comprised of 28 regional churches or Landeskirchen, the bulk of German churches, that included the three major theological traditions that had emerged from the Reformation: Lutheran, Reformed, and United. Most, the bulk majority, of Germany’s 40 million Protestants, were members of this church, although there were smaller so-called “free” Protestant churches, such as Methodist and Baptist churches that withstood Nazism.

Flag of the Deutsche Christen or German Christians 1934

During the 1920s, a movement emerged within the German Evangelical Church called the Deutsche Christen, or “German Christians.” The “German Christians” embraced many of the nationalistic and racial aspects of Nazi ideology, which is exactly what we see rising today. Once the Nazis came to power, this group sought the creation of a national “Reich Church” and supported a “nazified” paganized version of Christianity.

{The Greatest Abandonment Of Christianity In The West Is Happening And The Whole World Is Being Plunged Into Paganism As Biblical Prophecies Reveal}

Wandlung der DC-Embleme 1932 – 1935 – 1937

It is very clear for us in West-Europe that we can see a very similar situation as in the 1920ies –1930ies and that we similar dictatorial right wing figures rising up and misleading the citizens of their country. America being the first country in the series where the right wing weapon lobby has won and is going to do everything to get other coloured and other believers out of ‘their nation’. Soon we might see Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen following in the footsteps of the new dictator Donald Trump, who shall take care that all those who do not agree with him shall disappear from the stage of his theatre.

Europe and other countries should be aware how they should be careful not to fall in the trap of those bad seed, the weeds being sown all over America and Europe, not to become infested with a dangerous virus, which not only shall kill many of the ones not like by many, but worst of all, killing lots of innocent people and bringing horror all over the world.

We should be warned and better know our real enemy.

Preceding

Seeds to be planted soon

Seeds of promise

Seeds, weeds and kingdoms

Unbelief, faith and mustard seed

Engagement in an actual two-way conversation with your deities

Solstice, Saturnalia and Christmas-stress

Additional reading

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Further related articles

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by Bijbelvorsers | 2016/12/02 · 2:01 pm

Tribes Redux

All over Europe we are feeling the pressure of certain people who think the country belongs to them only, even when their ancestors immigrated to that country which was then willing to receive them and to give them a place to build up a better life. But now their grand- or over-grandchildren do not want to give others such a chance to make something better out of their life.

The far-right (or today also called the Alt-right) becoming stronger in West-Europe and now also spreading like a virus over the United States of America and Canada, should make those who feel more for a democratic system more worried and anxious to take action, for bringing a halt to this fungus which can make our whole nation rotten and a dangerous swamp to live in.

Good that William Hill does not keep his writings private any more.
He likes to start each posting with a quote by someone past or present that speaks to the topic he want to address.Today he starts of with a quote from the young Kenian journalist at Africanews, Euronews and co-host for Ebru News “Aiming at the 4th°. First. Fast. Factual. Final & Future word” who thinks

The world is a sitcom waiting to be written. Start young.

Robert Kodingo who has a news room with French, English African and Nigerian speakers and sends praise from Nigeria (on Periscope TV). Robert Kodingo his quote

“We hate each other by race, color, tribe, wealth, gender etc because everyone wants to feel special and different than the other. I do not however have a solution on how people can stop having an ego that makes them specially superior than the other.”

should make us to see how ego has conquered the capitalist world.

William Hill or Bill his thoughts are sometimes serious and personal, sometimes just humorous, sometimes intentionally provocative (to make the reader assess their own thoughts on the subject and to elicit a comment). He also could see what is going on in Europe.

He also is not blind to notice that loss of old national sovereignty with subservience to Brussels’ bureaucracy might have been a good reason for many to go for a Brexit. {Immigration} He writes

but the largest reason is the huge influx of Middle Eastern and North African immigrants flooding into Europe, financially taxing, particularly the western, northern industrial nations. That, and the fear that embedded among them are terrorists bent on destroying western civilization. {Immigration}

But he suspects there’s a more truthful reason.

“It is interesting…the rhetoric [and] the gathering strength of right wing politics….Everywhere in the West ‘immigration’ [is spoken] in terms of the end of …’culture’, displaying signs of feeling threatened by these ‘others,’ who are portrayed as an invasive force.” ( Himani Bannerji.) {Immigration}

.

In Europe our states or countries are free to be part of the European Union or to stay out or like Great-Britain has shown, to leave.For a long time our guest-writer Bill espoused his belief that free, open and unencumbered travel and residency should be a right of all peoples, that globally – that right enjoyed by citizens within the United States and the European Union, respectively – should apply to everyone, world-wide. {The Great Wall of Donald}From his writings we may learn that many American Christians seem to be sitting with a very very old idea

if you worked hard enough you could become a rich, influential person. For centuries the only ones who needed to be educated to succeed were the clergy. {Education in America}

From the same article we learn at our surprise that not many Christians from the U.S.A. are holding postgraduate degrees:

Hindus – 48%

Jews – 35%

Buddhists– 26%

Catholics – 10% {Ed. note: we do not know Bill only looks at Roman Catholics, like often many Americans do or at all Catholics}

Protestants – 9%

(Not mentioned were those without a confessed religion. I wonder what percentage they are?)

If you wonder (as I did at first) why Christians are so far behind other religious, I think the answer is cultural.

Buddists and Hindus both share a similiar belief that the soul’s future condition is dependent on the knowledge acquired by the mind in this lifetime, that knowledge becomes understanding of life, and that is the ultimate goal of life. (It would seem that, contrary to Christian teachings that all understanding will be granted to the soul upon death, Buddists and Hindus believe understaning is not a gift in the next life, rather something to be strove for in this life.)

The Jews for most of their history – at least in Europe – were not allowed to own land (which was the riches of the day) and they had to be ready to leave on a moment’s notice to escape local progoms against them. Hence an education was portable and enabled them to find work without being tied to one place. {Education in America}

No wonder than perhaps we can find so many who are carried away so easily by words from some one who knows his rhetoric well. For politicians it is proffered that their folks do not think too much for themselves. Therefore certain countries are trying to give the idea to their inhabitants they are ‘somewhat’ or that they can get a ‘degree’ but that degree does not say much or has not much value opposite the degrees of renowned universities. The Donald Trump University promised to give some money back to those who complained they are ripped off.

It is known that

Males of most species of animals are prone to violence, yet where it is the male that is the primary care-giver and has the greater role in raising the young, it is the females that compete violently with each other. {News that doesn’t sell newspapers}

We could see many republican women who could skin Hilary Clinton alive. But for certain women the other and coloured women may also be a competitor on their market for men. and when they have to see that certain of those women of an other race can climb higher than them it makes it very painful.

Certain politicians playing in on the weak part of their audience made a handy use of the fear the media is creating by lots of people. As such by the fear mongering in several nations of Europe and different states in the United States, those who found an easy way to point at a target or culprit, proclaiming nationalism, anti-immigrant and religious intolerance.

*

To remember

significant up-tick in the level and number (almost a daily occurrence) of violent confrontations racially + ethnically,

US, a nation of immigrants + freedom of religion + who for the last sixty years promoted internationalism by multiple treaties of cooperation in multiple areas

For Bill there is a good tombstone epitaph over the grave of humanity after we destroy ourselves.

“Mine mine mine.
That was the curse and power of human beings — that what they saw and loved they had to have.
They could share it with other people but only if they conceived of those people as being somehow their own.
What we own is ours.
What you own should also be ours.

In fact, you own nothing, if we want it.
Because you are nothing.
We are the real people, you are only posing as people in order to try to deprive us of what God means us to have.”
― Orson Scott Card

+

Preceding articles

Autumn is in the land

Enough with the Clothes Shaming of Muslim Women

American Christians have to think twice before going to vote

++

Additional reading

Leaving the Old World to find better pastures

Migrants to the West #1

Capitalism and economic policy and Christian survey

The New gulf of migration and seed for far right parties

Our political systems and juggling with human laws

Objective views and not closing eyes for certain sayings

+++

Further reading

Puritans and Pilgrims

“We Are Not Our Grandparents:” Yeah, That’s Pretty Clear

To be an ‘Aryan’

Standing Rock

Ancestors

Ancestral Reverence

The Past

Gifts from our ancestors

Echos of ancestors

Origins

7 Things Our Ancestors Stockpiled To Survive Winter

Friendship Comes in Small Gestures

Don’t judge from the cover

Let’s clarify! Migration, Immigration, Emigration: the importance of proper definitions.

A Migrant By Any Other Name is an Expat

260 White Crosses

Jo Cox: victim of ‘Leave’ hate crime.

Immigration to the UK from the European Union hit a record high in the run-up to the Brexit vote

A record number of migrants have arrived in Italy this year by boat

1,400 migrants rescued in Mediterranean

Italy’s Minister Of Interior (Freemason): Surrender Your Homes To Migrants Or Face Jail

Calais: the State in total hesitation

France and Them: Expats, Migrants, Refugees

Swiss immigration quotas: where do we stand?

VQR 2016 Prize for Photography – Jason Florio ‘Out of the Sea’

Austria News | Asylum-Seekers

Bulgaria News | Asylum-Seekers

A flirting coach is giving refugees dating lessons ‘to help them integrate’

These migrants must be sent back to Africa and Asia. Migrant crisis: Bulgaria orders migrant deportations after riots at camp on Turkey border | World | News | Daily Express

My Issue With “Stopping the Boat People”

Fate of thousands of missing migrant children in Europe still unclear

Merkel says EU and Turkey must stick to migration deal

Child asylum seekers subjected to controversial age tests

A Word To The Criminal Migrant

Recycling means risk of increased crime in Denmark

Erdogan threatens to allow 3m refugees cross into Europe

Erdogan Warns Turkey Could Open Gates for Migrants if Pushed by EU — After EU Stops Talks With Turkey on EU membership

Encounters With Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Bigotry in Germany And Beyond

Video: Racist Attacks!

Punk: Beyoncé Unleashes Formation

The Future President

America once turned its back on Anne Frank, just as Donald Trump rejects Muslim refugees today

Article of the day: American ethnic politics in comparative perspective

Blame Trump on the Rich, Part 4: The KKK and the two Neighborhoods Adjacent

“But why can’t we have white pride?”

For White Voters, It Was Education, Stupid

Republicans Can’t Be Christians — Sorry!

Bridges – Stepping Forward with Lilka and Andy

Cartoon of the day

Reader letter: Alt-right story ‘refreshing, important’

“Doctor Calls Michelle Obama ‘Monkey Face,’ But Says She’s Not Racist”

Adichie’s “danger of a single story” and the Rise of Post-Truth Trumplandia

12-2-16

The US once gave amnesty to almost 3 million undocumented migrants. Here’s the economic argument for doing it again

Ladies and Gentlemen. The President of the United States.

He’s Making a List

Monochromacy

Let’s All Get Vulnerable

Sermon Notes – gRace Part 2: Good Fences Make Bad Neighbours

Anti-Semitism in Hungary and Its Spiritual Twin Poland

Honor Diversity

District temporarily pulls classic novels after complaint

Top 10 reasons why it’s hard to talk to some white people about race.

(12/01/2016) No Less GOD’s Creation

Envie de partager ce texte

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Nobody on the Planet knows what Donald Trump is going to do, but South Africa can Help.

George Takei Invites Elected Officials to ALLEGIANCE Screenings in Response to Trump Surrogate’s Japanese-American Internment Comments

How To Protect Your Work Culture When “Political Correctness” Is Under Fire

Happy President’s Day! What Our Forefathers Thought About Taxes

Obama on Fidel Castro’s death: ‘History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure’

Quotes and Thoughts

“We hate each other by race, color, tribe, wealth, gender etc because everyone wants to feel special and different than the other. I do not however have a solution on how people can stop having an ego that makes them specially superior than the other.”

― Robert Kodingo

Some nations in Europe, and lately the United States, have been voting for leaders or policies that proclaim nationalism, anti-immigrant and religious intolerance. There has been a significant up-tick in the level and number – now almost a daily occurrence – of violent confrontations racially and ethnically, without any indication of possible abeyance.

Things I find loathsome and abhorrent. Especially here, in the US, a nation of immigrants and freedom of religion and who for the last sixty years has promoted internationalism by multiple treaties of cooperation in multiple areas. The incoming Trump administration is still in the formative stages and there…

View original post 490 more words

4 Comments

Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Economical affairs, Headlines - News, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as Alt-right, American Christians, Americans, Ancestors, Anti-immigrant parties, Brexit, Buddhists, Democracy, Democratic system, Donald Trump, Donald Trump University, Europe, European Union, Fearmongering, Great Britain, Hindus, Immigrants, Immigration, Immigration policy, Jews, Nationalism, Protestants, Religious intolerance, Robert Kodingo, United States of America, West Europe, William Hill

by Guestspeaker | 2016/08/26 · 10:49 pm

Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised

Prudish people having put away their shame by causing shame to others

Years ago people had to fight hard against the prudish Catholic minds who opposed any naked flesh to be shown. Today the so called Catholic countries in West Europe seem to have chosen to have the women their tits out and finding it not okay to cover them up.

In the previous century there were many French and Belgians who did find it inappropriate to have some natural flesh of certain body parts to be shown in public. It was considered not done to have dresses which did not come under the knees. (We where brought up like that and got penalties when we had dared to show our bare/naked legs or upper arms.) Last century it was said we all had to listen to God and could not run naked in this world because God opposed such a thing.

Today their god must have changed idea and has come to prefer naked flesh, because in the present time the French seem not to look at those who want to cover their body as unworthy believers and even as people who are a danger for society.

Covering up for the Almighty

When we were young our Catholic mothers had to wear headscarf or hats when coming in public. In church they had to sit at the left hand site with their faces hidden behind a veil. In the previous century most people in Europe thought it was appropriate to dress decently and not having too much bare or naked. Mots parts of the body had to be covered with clothing or tissue.

Only around the turn of the century less people came to make objections when some parts of the body were not covered. Today it looks like the world has got upside down. What for centuries was thought to be the moral way and according to Judeo Christian values, suddenly seems to be not acceptable any more.

People, like female Muslims, who now choose to cover up for God, are not allowed to do so by the French governement. Europeans should question such a decision taken by a governement in West Europe and see how human rights (freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations) are trespassed. Today we can see in France that many specific human rights are ignored. What happened to the the right to personal or individual liberty and Due Process of Law; to freedom of thought, clothing, expression, religion, organization, and movement; to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, language, and sex?

Restrictions imposed

In West Europe we encounter more that certain social groups are confined to menial and despised jobs or even get no opportunity on the work-market. When somebody is called Mohammed he may be sure it will be much more difficult to get a job than when he would be called Jef. Arabic looking people shall find it more difficult to be able to rent a place or to buy property.

In Europe they say there does not exist a cast system (or caste) but if they are not careful it will come in existence or (better said) it will grow (because it is already here but denied). In our 21st century ‘Untouchability‘ and ‘Speciesism‘ have become a reality also in Western Europe. We can clearly see that more and more different values, rights, or special consideration is given to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership, origin and faith. There are many who are not minding positive discrimination and taking it up for one particular religious group (the Roman catholics). Today we may find the atheist caste wanting to direct the Christian-caste, Islamic-caste, and may we find different rejections of castes or groups of people.

It seems that France and Belgium are limiting the human rights laws for some groups in their population, which should give us the idea they are discriminating. By singling out a type of person or thing for special negative treatment or denial of equal treatment and to act in a prejudicial manner against someone or something, they have chosen the way of deprivation of individual liberty.

Oppression

Lots of Caucasians seem to think that all those women are oppressed, but is it not they who know bring oppression and take away those women’s freedom to cloth themselves like they want? Clearly we could see several women being downtrodden, maltreated, henpecked, browbeaten and subjugated or abused and tyrannized.

The country

which prides itself for liberté, égalité, fraternité, has unfortunately fallen short in recent times, with more social division and social prejudice arising within the country, due to the public suppression and rejection of religion; the consequent of which has led to violent eruptions.
It is also precisely through the social persecution of the wider Islamic community in such acts which aim to strip them of their beliefs, that it seems that the French government are validating individuals’ fears, rather than attempting to diffuse them. {France’s banning of the ‘Burqini’ is the rejection of its founding principles}

Swimwear

Forbidden: a burkini-clad woman on the beach

This iconic image of Peggy Moffitt modelling Gernreich’s monokini, which got a lot of controversy, was initially published in Women’s Wear Daily on June 3, 1964 and shows how one was still afraid to show a naked tummy.

What should people have against a full body swimsuit for any sort of woman, being Catholic or Muslim? (When we were child our parents had to wear full swimsuits or where fined.) Shall people, who went diving, have to take off their wetsuit before they come onto the beach? If they may walk on the beach with a wetsuit why not women in a full swimsuit?
Why are so many against wearing a swimming costume which covers the whole body with the exception of the face, hands, and feet, suitable for wear by Muslim women, which got the name bourkini/burkini/burqini, but has nothing to do with a bourka/burka/burqa or with the rider’s burka/burqa, which is long, thickpiled, nor with the traditional man’s coat made from felt or karakul, or with the Ukrainian traditional garment or Kobeniak, or with a two-piece bathing costume called bikini (or close-fitting bathing suit worn by men) and even less with a monokini, being just the opposite of it?

Women their freedom taken away

Are so many West Europeans so afraid women cannot stand up for themselves? And certain feminists do they not see there is much more at hand than just sexism?

We must be aware that there is so much more going on in our deranged world where Jihadi terrorist managed to get the fear burning hard over here in our regions that nobody seems to feel at ease when they see something that smells to Islamism. The politicians fell in the trap by creating laws in a hurry which limits the freedom of many women who have nothing to do at all with the faith of those terrorists, because they have chosen the path of God and a religion of peace or salam, hence the name Islam.

The Mayor of Cannes has prohibited access to the beach for those wearing clothing that disrespects secularism Reuters

By prohibiting the burkini the French state limits even more those they say would be oppressed. It is strange that lots of people do not understand those women wearing a burkini get just the freedom to go into the water or to lie on the beach like so many other women do. By banning the burkini those women their freedom to enjoy a good day at the beach is taken away. By the ban also their children are targeted, because they also shall not be able to come to the beach and to go into the water to play with their mother.

The justification for the burkini ban is no longer about ‘liberating’ women, ….. but Arundhati Roy’s remarks about France’s earlier ban on the burka are still apt:

Suzanna Arundhati Roy , Indian author who is best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997

When, as happened recently in France, an attempt is made to coerce women out of the burka rather than creating a situation in which a woman can choose what she wishes to do, it’s not about liberating her but about unclothing her. It becomes an act of humiliation and cultural imperialism. Coercing a woman out of her burka is as bad as coercing her into one. It’s not about the burka. It’s about the coercion.

Arundhati Roy Capitalism: A Ghost Story, p. 37.

Armed police forcing women to remove their clothes on the beach is nothing other than an act of humiliation – humiliating women to punish a minority group for the actions of a few individuals. {France and the Burkini}

Huda Jawad, Community Coordinator at Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, wrote

Choosing to conflate a cultural and religiously inspired mode of attire – which women choose to wear to feel safe from the sexual gaze of society while partaking in a very ordinary pastime – with a terrorist group is a convenient ‘othering’ of fellow citizens in times of national crisis. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Secularism, good attitude and proper values

You may wonder why those women in burkini would not wear appropriate swimwear and would not “respect good customs and secularism” whilst others with their bare poo and bare bosom would be an example how women should be clothed and are respecting the western values.

There exist already a lot of discriminatory treatment towards physically unattractive people. Now to that ‘Lookism‘ we have the discriminatory view of men who can not see enough naked flesh are can not find enough to look at by a woman.

Today people not only make judgements of others based on their physical appearance that influence how they respond to those people, when their clothes are not liked by French men such men may now demand those clothes to be taken off.

The announcement by David Lisnard, UMP Mayor of Cannes, that he is prohibiting access to the beach to anyone not wearing what the French would consider suitable bathing suits, did not make many French question, what right he had, to decide a woman had to wear on the beach and why he choose the more naked version of the feminine, instead of a more clothed, and what believers in God would call a more decent one.

Victims of ISIS, the scapegoat of the French nation

Lots of people consider themselves victim of ISIS but forget that the worst victims are Islamists or ordinary Muslim people all over the world. Europeans and Americans may not be blind and should see that the greatest causalities of Isis have been Muslims, and the banning of the burkini illustrates the extent to which France’s fundamentalist secularism is singling out the most visible and vulnerable group in society for blame.

The governement is giving in and has found its scapegoat and used the local Muslims to blame for the terror the security forces of the country could not avoid or obstruct. Like the Fascist in the past liked Scapegoating many Europeans and Americans now blame the refugees and Muslims for the many problems they have in their country. In the past Jews and immigrants were prominent among the groups that were demonized. In France the Jews got a sibling now in the Muslim community. Today it is not a “Judeo-Masonic-bolshevik” conspiraciy or left-wing agitation, but the presence of immigrants and the amount of active Muslims.

As in the past the governement points the finger to those ‘outcasts’ and originators of all sin. They go with the people and hope to gain popularity by taking measures against the Ummah or Muslim community, making their life so difficult that they hope those other believers will soon leave. Implication was that depriving these demons of their power and influence would cause the nation’s major problems to go away.

Lots of people are afraid that those Muslims would be able to convert many French and that the nation by those converts would be more and more becoming an Islamic state.

Limiting the liberty of Muslims and other believers

Now by limiting the liberty of the Muslims in their own country the governement hopes to please the rest of the population and to take the attention away from their own weakness and the blame they have it not in control.

The governement, because of all the discussions going on about the burkini’s and religious clothing, decided that when the schools will open again, no religious dress or symbol shall be allowed, and as such no head covering for Jews and Muslims or necklaces with religious symbols.

Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a former government spokesperson who is politically more to the left than former interior minister Valls and disagrees with the burqini ban could not stop the measures.

For the start of the debate, concerning the burqini Huda Jawad also questioned in the Daily Independent

Since when did wearing a burkini, in most cases a loose fitting nylon version of a wetsuit, become an act of allegiance to terrorist movements? Do Marks & Spencer or House of Fraser know that their attempt to raise profits and exploit a gap in the over-saturated clothing market is selling and promoting allegiance to Isis? {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

She also remarks

What is it about French secularism’s blindspot to its own racism and misogyny? The obsession to the point of fetishism with Muslim women’s mode of dress and covering curtails the most basic of human rights – that of self-determination and freedom of expression. As Arundhati Roy so eloquently put it, coercing a woman out of the burka instead of enabling her to choose is an act of violence, humiliation and cultural imperialism. Instead of extending the hand of fraternité, Mr Lisnard and his supporters are excluding Muslims, if not pushing them into the arms of radicalisers. {The burkini ban is misogynistic – and Western feminists are turning a blind eye}

Making the Muslims stigmatised as the bogeyman, that scarecrow seems already frightening lots of French people. They are pushing the golliwog in the corner or throwing in front of the swines that in the end they shall have to defend themselves so strongly and make their faith and stance even stronger, so that a new religious revolt can take place. Perhaps than the French shall get their eyes opened and shall be awakened from their cauchemard (their nightmare) they are afraid of.

Today, Friday 26 August 2016, France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on the burkini in a test case brought by human rights groups, pending a definitive ruling.

The ruling from the state council suspends a single ban in the southern town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, but is likely to set a precedent for other towns that have prohibited the full-body swimwear on their beaches.

According to a senior politician in Norway’s right-wing Progress Party (FrP) Norway also has to follow the lead of a number of French towns and ban the burkini. Third deputy, Aina Stenersen, claims the full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women are “a symbol of radical Islam” and is convinced that French cities did right to ban the burqini from their beaches. The Progress Party is in the process of formulating a new party manifesto, and the burkini ban is expected to be included.

The FrP does, however, believe the fine faced by those who wear burkinis in France is too lenient. Ms Stenersen intends to double the charge to around 500 kroner, which is equivalent to £57.

A story to be continued and démarche or kick-off to be followed up .

To welcome women wearing burqini’s and coming into public spaces

Marcel Michelson for Forbes writes

Yes, wearing a burkini on the beach, as wearing a burka in town, is an ostentatious sign of religious adherence, as is the wearing of full robes by priests and nuns in public or the traditional garments and hairstyles of orthodox Jews.

Yet a burkini is also a means of emancipation for Muslim women, allowing them to bathe despite the strict, male-dominated, rules under which they have to lead their lives.

In a way, we should welcome burkini’s and encourage Muslims to integrate more in French, or European, society. {Burkini Debate In France Shows Lack Of Tolerance And Understanding Out Of Fear For Strangers}

Please come to read:

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Further related articles

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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Fashion - Trends, Headlines - News, Juridical matters, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as Aina Stenersen, Arundhati Roy, Égalité, Belgians, Belgium, Bikini, Burka, Burkini, Burqa, Burqini, Cast system, Caste, Caucasians, Civil Liberties, Civil liberty, Clothing, Coercing, Covering up, Covering up for God, Cultural imperialism, Daesh (ISIS or Islamic State), David Lisnard, Deprivation of individual liberty, Discriminating, Discrimination, Discrimination towards women, European values, Europeans, Feminists, France, Fraternité, Freedom from discrimination, Freedom of clothing, Freedom of expression, Freedom of religion, Freedom of thought, French government, French people, Full body swimsuit, Huda Jawad, Human rights, Humiliation, Islam, Islamic community, Islamism, Islamophobia, Judeo-Christian values, Kafir, Liberté, Liberty, Lookism, Misogyny, Muslim, Muslim community, Muslim women, Muslims, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Naked flesh, Nakedness, Norway, Nudity, Oppressed, Oppression, Personal liberty, Racism, Rejection of religion, Religious discrimination, Restrictions, Salam (Peace), Scapegoat, Scapegoating, Secularism, Social division, Social persecution, Social prejudice, Swimsuit, Swimsuits, Swimwear, Terrorists, Tyrannisation, Ummah or Muslim community, Values, Villeneuve-Loubet, West Europe, Western values, Wetsuit, Women in Islam

by Christadelphians | 2015/12/18 · 8:10 am

Solstice, Saturnalia and Christmas-stress

Today lots of people tend to treat things such as Christmas trees and holiday gift giving as if they’ve been with us forever. While these are old traditions, they were once far more localized. In this world of media everywhere, we tend to forget that customs were once far more specific to the area. Lots of people also have lost the connection of those festivals and have transposed it to their group of people, believers or non-believers in Jesus Christ or in God.

From the Saxon days there was Yule for mid-winter and in the regions of West Europe the autumn storm brought many ideas alive to think about gods who controlled everything in nature. The days becoming darker demanded for and still demand for some more light bringing into it. In the old times to honour the gods it was custom to put all sorts of things in the trees as an offering to the gods. On December the 25th it was the day of the goddess of light. Time was taken to celebrate her.

Traditional Christmas card with holly and mistletoe. Circa 1880s

Druids, Celts, and even the Romans used evergreen branches made into wreaths in winter solstice celebrations. Because so many things lost colour and seemed to have died people looked up for those elements in nature which could be so strong that they stayed green. Pagan symbols as holly and ivy remained green and were taken as a promise of life to return in dead of winter. Holly – prized for its ability to bear fruit in winter and its healing uses – were the blessings people hoped they could have in the house and share with each other. Healing elements were very important to get through Winter.

While the Romans were holding the feast for the god Saturn — which occurred about the time of the winter solstice — they decked the outsides of their houses with holly. At the same time the Christians were quietly celebrating the birth of Christ, and to avoid detection they outwardly followed the custom of their heathen neighbours and decked their houses with holly as well. In this way holly came to be connected with Christmas customs. The plant was also regarded as a symbol of the Resurrection.

The missionaries coming in these regions quickly understood how the pagan traditions were so strong and how people would not like to give them up. This we still see today happening. As Christians should come to know more about traditions and about usages all over the world, plus having the Holy Scriptures to find what they could or could not do, we see that those who call themselves Christian still do not like to give up those pagan traditions and pagan festivals.

The Roman Catholic Church had already given in to Constantine the Great allowing the false teaching of the trinity be part of the Catholic Faith, so it was a further small step to adapt the Western Celtic and Saxon traditions to the Roman Faith. In 336 CE, during the time of this so called first Christian Roman Emperor for the first time on December 25th “Christmas” was being celebrated.

A very early Christian tradition said that March 25^th was the day when Mary was told she’d give birth to Jesus (called the Annunciation). And nine months later, of course, would be December 25^th. But the Bible doesn’t mention the exact days of that annunciation, nor of the birth of Jesus, though from all the secular writings we do know when the cencus took place, when the falling star appeared and that it was in October that Mary and Joseph went to fulfil their duties. We can take it was in 4BCE on October the 17th that rabbi Jeshua from the tribe of King David was born. For those who would love to celebrate his birthday it is strange that they than not do this around the period Jesus was rally born.

An image from the necropolis under the Vatican in which Jesus = Mithras (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is true that in many cultures we can find a festival of lights, also the Jews have such a festival of lights. Germans and Scandinavians had their yule festival. Celtic legends connected the solstice with Balder, the Scandinavian sun god or Norse god of light, son of the chief god Odin and his wife Frigg, who was struck down by a mistletoe arrow from the blind god Hödur (or Höd). At the pagan festival of Saturnalia, Romans feasted and gave gifts to the poor. Drinking was closely connected with these pagan feasts.

The Babylonian sun-god and god of agriculture and flocks, Tammuz, lover of Ishtar, born on the winter solstice according to legend was also celebrated on December the 25th and by the Roman Catholic Church his symbol was taken as the symbol for Jesus (the sign of Tammuz or the cross), placing Jesus as the bringer of light and god of light.

The leaders of the instituted organisation of clergy who accepted the trinity, agreed to adopted the saturnalia day of the ‘day of birth’ or ‘day of new life’ as a remembrance day of the new life Jesus has given to all mankind. For them it was easier to get more converts by keeping the folks from indulging in the old pagan festivals as part of the pagan culture, now transformed or redressed in a Roman Catholic dressing.

Branches that had thorns became to be the thorns Christ wore on the crucifix (sign of Tammuz) and the berries were stained red by his drops of blood. From the Norse and the Druids, the Mistletoe you may find growing here everywhere and at that time was considered special because of it found growing on the sacred oaks, was featured in several old myths and held to be sacred and associated with fertility, which led to kissing boughs.

Also today at the Christmas markets we can find the gangway where there is the kissing bough custom one holds that a woman who refuses the kiss shall have bad luck, and that those who kiss underneath it shall be having a blessed and fruitful year.

Not all the following years Christmas was part of Christian life. During Cromwell’s rule, Christmas was even banned. Charles II restored the holiday in England. However, the Parliament of Scotland officially abolished the observance of Christmas in 1640, to purge the church “of all superstitious observation of days”, and it was not restored as a public holiday in Scotland until 1958.

Julbocken, by John Bauer (1912)

From the 4th to the 19th century the tradition of the Northern people their celebration for their chief god and the father of Thor, (Thunor, or Thonar), Balder, and Tiw, Woden or Wotan became more and more also liked by the people from Holland and Belgium and the man with a long white beard who rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn became their Sint Niklaas (Sinterklaas) or Sint Nicholas (saint Nicholas) and in the Anglo Saxon countries Father Christmas or Santa Claus/Sancta Claus.

1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who, along with Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus

From the 20th century onward that Father Christmas started gaining more popularity and the presents became more and more the focus of the people for that season were the darkness seemed to have darkened their Christian sight. Lots of Christians enjoyed decorating the ‘Christmas tree‘ and telling their children the Saint from Spain had brought presents for all those who had behaved well the previous year. Later in the month it was the Santa who once more brought presents in the house.

History illustrates the awesome outworking of initial events from when the Divine Creator has declared

Zephaniah 1:17-18 The Scriptures 1998+ (17) “And I shall bring distress on men, and they shall walk like blind men – because they have sinned against יהוה {Jehovah}, and their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.” (18) Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of יהוה {Jehovah}. And by the fire of His jealousy all the earth shall be consumed, for He makes a sudden end of all those who dwell in the earth.

This comes from the Christadelphian bible reading for December 15 when we started reading this short and somewhat overlooked prophecy of Zephaniah. He would have been one of the prophets Peter referred to, as we read the final chapter of his second letter of the same day-reading, he told them they should remember

2 Peter 3:2 The Scriptures 1998+ (2) the words previously spoken by the set-apart prophets, and of the command of the Master and Saviour, spoken by your emissaries,

Today we may find lots of people who have stress about the coming days when they have to present nice meals and many presents and have to fulfil many family visits and social obligations. Their eyes are closed for the real issue in life. Not a Santa shall bring salvation and he from the North has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. When we look at the many Christmas markets we even do not see much what reminds us of the Saviour who was sent by God to this earth.

Ages ago holy prophets told about the eyes of people which would become blinded. Today we

“should remember their predictions”

Folk tale depiction of Father Christmas riding on a goat. Perhaps an evolved version of the Swedish Tomte. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We also should remember that they also warned for the time that scoffers were going to come and would lead people following their own sinful desires. About the promised one who was born, lived for a very short time here on earth, died, was resurrected from the dead and showed that he was not a spirit, but the one brought back alive by his heavenly Father, that master teacher is not remembered much these days and many do not think about his return or even do not believe in it.

Yes many laugh at us and say,

“Where is the promise of his coming?”

Many children have to promise their parents that they will be good next year. Then they also will get some present. But not many children learn about that man who died for our sins. Not many take time in this ‘Time of the year’ to read the Bible and to meditate on what God and his son Jesus had to say.

Today lots of people are concentrating on their self and do see all those refugees coming in our regions as a possible threat to what they can enjoy. Many are afraid they shall have to share with those poor people who travelled thousands of miles to find their luck in our Western world where money seems to flow like moulted butter.

Many people do not see what is really going on and how those set apart men of God had warned for certain situations we can see today. Also Jesus told about the signs of those days we have today. That time Jesus spoke about, may be much closer than many think. Many are blinded by the money this world is offering. Lots of people think everything can be said with presents and with the value of money. The real value for life they often do not see. Capitalism has put sand in their eyes.

The ways of godless thinking and living will be seen for all the foolishness they are; and we must never forget, there are only 2 ways: the broad way and the narrow way. Those on the narrow way are

2 Peter 3:12-15 The Scriptures 1998+ (12) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of Elohim, through which the heavens shall be destroyed, being set on fire, and the elements melt with intense heat! (13) But according to His promise we wait for a renewed heavens and a renewed earth in which righteousness dwells. (14) So then, beloved ones, looking forward to this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, (15) and reckon the patience of our Master as deliverance, as also our beloved brother Sha’ul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him,

“waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (verses 13,14).

Included in what they (we) are waiting for, is what Job perceived and that we read today. He declared,

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (19:25-27).

He believed in resurrection!

That final comment is most thought provoking. Our hearts will be in danger of fainting within us for multiple reasons, when God “bring(s) distress” – the experience will be awesome for believers! But how imminent then will be the time when they will “see God” through seeing his Son, marvelling in anticipation of the ultimate time when

“God himself will be with them as their God … for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3,4).

Let us anticipate in faith the things that “our eyes shall behold” to carry us through the coming time of “distress”.

Additional reading

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Human tragedy need to be addressed at source

Four years into the Syrian civil war, the dramatic refugee crisis can no longer be ignored by European and American leaders.
The US administration, though deeply involved in the Middle East, has found it convenient for Syrian refugees to be seen as a European problem. And Europe’s response to date is far from the rhetoric of a union founded on the values of respect for human dignity and the protection of human rights. That has to change.

European citizens and their governments have to take up their responsibility. Many coming to West Europe do have “well-founded fear of persecution”. Coming from different countries and different cultures with different backgrounds and different religions they have to undergo a culture shock and find themselves facing contrasting religious thoughts.

Depressingly, they are but a fraction of the 20 million refugees and 40 million internally displaced people uprooted by conflict and persecution – the highest level ever recorded by the UN Refugee Agency.

write David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, and Sigmar Gabriel, Vice-Chancellor of Germany, for the English newspaper Independent.

In “These are the steps Europe must take to solve the refugee crisis” they say

The causes of this human tragedy need to be addressed at source. There is a clear need for European Union leaders to use the bloc’s unique combination of diplomatic, political and development assets to re-energise moribund peace processes, and to expend the diplomatic capital necessary to stay the violence that uproots an average of 42,500 people every day. But decades-old instability in Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere will not be solved overnight, and it will be years before those who have fled Syria can even begin to consider returning home. So significantly increasing humanitarian and long-term development assistance to those uprooted by conflict and to refugee-hosting countries is vital.

Please do read the article: “These are the steps Europe must take to solve the refugee crisis” and find out that

The UN’s appeals for Syria and the wider region are just 31 and 40 per cent funded. The supply of food and basic medical treatment to refugees is in danger.

and that

We immediately need a joint European, American, and Arab donor initiative to boost the funding of those institutions that deliver help on the ground. Moreover, the machinery of international donor conferences needs to be turbo-charged to support an ambitious reconstruction and investment plan in the region.

We need a much more co-ordinated and fairer approach from Europe’s leaders. An effective strategy to manage the crisis will need to address the plight of those who have already reached Europe. Here, too, there are a number of steps that EU countries should urgently take.

Not only the governments are responsible to have those who come in our regions to be treated with dignity and respect. The local inhabitants must let the “guests” feel welcome and give them their moral support, showing them the right ways to settle here in Europe for the time being. they have to teach the ways we live here and how we understand people have to relate to each other. Religious clashes like we have seen over the past few weeks have to be avoided by making it clear that when they tried to escaped religious fundamentalists, they should know and accept that there is, has to be and has to stay free religious thought in our regions. The inhabitants of Europe have to show them that they are open to different religious groups and are not prejudiced to Muslim people. But they also have to make it very clear they want to keep religious freedom and freedom of clothing, thought and speech as one of the treasured values of our community.

To keep a good balance and to keep peace in the minds of the European civilians the governments have to

establish a fair, comprehensive, common European asylum policy, which ensures that all asylum applications are processed according to international standards, and shares out responsibility for hosting refugees among all EU member states. Equally, the Juncker Plan is right, too, to highlight that those who do not have a claim to refugee status should be sent home. {These are the steps Europe must take to solve the refugee crisis}

the human solidarity does not have to be taken by just a few countries of the European Union, but all countries of the European Union have to show their solidarity and act in unity with all the members to help those displaced people, but making sure that no economical refugees misuse the situation.

In the end Europe together with the other world powers shall have to take care that there comes and end to the war is in Syria and to the wars in the African countries were work has to be done to end the in-equality for the citizens and to the fraudulences of those in power.

A refugee arrives at the Greek island of Lesbos AFP

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Preceding articles:

Refugees At The Border- A Blessing Or Burden?

Poster: Please Help The Refugees

The World Wide Refugee and Migrant Crisis and a possible solution for it

My two cents on the refugee crisis

Helping to create a Positive Attitude

Tolerance Ends When There Is No Tolerance Shown Towards Us

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15 Comments

Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Headlines - News, Political affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as Culture shock, David Miliband, Displaced people, Europe, European citizens, European community, European governments, European problems, European Union, European values, Fleeing violence, Free religious thought, Freedom of clothing, Freedom of religion, Freedom of speech, Freedom of thought, Human dignity, Human tragedies, Human values, International Rescue Committee, Middle East, Refugee Crisis, Refugee-hosting countries, Refugees, Refugees of the Syrian civil war, Religious identity, Sigmar Gabriel, Solidarity, Syrian civil war, Syrian refugees, Values, West Europe

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