Christmastide: the true meaning, according to John Wright

I really liked this post by John Wright, sci-fi author extraordinaire and ABRC (atheist-background Roman Catholic).

I always had to tell Daoud and the family that Christmas doesn't start until the 25th, because before that it is Advent. Stinkin' pagan America. (Speaking of which, we're back in the USA for the time being.)

Anyway, check out John's informative and funny summary of what Christmastide really means. Here is a section to get you going:

So what are the Twelve Days? And why are there Thirteen of them? I have not been able to find easy to hand a list of the Twelve Days of Christmas for 2011-2012. Here is my own list I have gathered from various sources:

Christmas: December 25th–The Nativity of Our Lord
December 26th—Feast of St. Stephen, first martyr
December 27th—Feast of St. John, apostle and evangelist
December 28th—Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs
December 29th—Memorial of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury, bishop and martyr
December 30th—Feast of the Holy Family
December 31st—Memorial of St. Sylvester I, pope (in Eastern Church, this is the Apodosis, or final day of the Afterfeast)
January 1st —Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
January 2nd —Memorials of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors
January 3rd —Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
January 4th —St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
January 5th —Memorial of St. John Neumann, bishop & St. Telesphorus, pope and martyr
January 6th —Epiphany (traditional)

I liked this part:

The Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury is an optional memorial. The traditional celebration I think is to drink cider and stab a bishop to death in an English cathedral.

The Feast of the Holy Family is the 30th of December this year. (The Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the Sunday following Christmas, unless that Sunday is January 1st.) I am not sure what the tradition is on this day, either uprooting your family because of a bad dream and fleeing to Egypt or else getting your twelve-year-old lost in Jerusalem and not noticing he’s missing for the whole day.

 But read it on your own. At John's Blog.

Former Muslims United (USA)

I was aware that various councils or groups for ex-Muslims existed in Belgium and the UK and some other countries in Europe, but behold, there is one in the USA as well. On their Mission Statement page they list, among other things, the following goals:

1. Develop a legal framework for and ensure the civil rights of American individuals and organizations to provide sanctuary for former Muslims without being subject to legal penalties or threats.

5. Educate the American public, especially politicians and those in the U.S. legal system, of Islamic law’s encouragement of extra-judicial enforcement or vigilante street justice against apostates who are subjected to serious death threats in America and from abroad.  Denial is a common reaction by many Muslim leaders to those who warn about clear-cut laws in all Islamic legal schools of Sharia.  As a matter of fact, Islamic law states that it is permissible to lie to non-Muslims to accomplish a Sharia-sanctioned objective.  Thus, since killing apostates is a Sharia-sanctioned objective, misleading Western publics is permissible and practiced regularly.  This point must be clear to the public in order to understand the extent of the threat and the disingenuousness of the public response by Muslim advocates of Sharia.

God bless them in their efforts! Learn more about them HERE.

Responding to Marc Cortez and the poor situation of Theology PhD's

Marc Cortez recently posted on the dismal job prospects of folks who have recently received a PhD in Theology (HT to Phil Sumpter). Here is a portion of his post, just so you get what he is getting at:

In 2008 ATS schools hired 420 new faculty. In 2009 they hired 339. By 2010 the number was down to 226. That’s an almost 50% decrease in just two years.

[...]

That becomes a problem when you consider the number of new PhDs produced every year. ATS schools alone graduate over 400 new doctoral students every year. Add in the students graduating from non-ATS schools (including all of the overseas programs) and you begin to see the shape of the market.

I felt that his post was interesting and worthwhile. Here is the comment I posted on his site:

I just am wrapping up a PhD in divinity (close enough, no?) and am very content working as a missionary to Muslims. I teach on the side at a local university but that is not my main job or main source of income. Consider the mission field. It is wonderful and dynamic, trying and exhilarating. Even if I got an offer for a T[enure] T[rack] position I would not automatically take it.

So check out his blog post, and chime in with your own thoughts. My overall impression is we need a closer relation between theological training and mission, like back in the maligned medieval Church, which I rather like.

Pray for Evangelistic Meeting in Egypt

Christians in Egypt are gathering together for a large evangelistic meeting, and expect opposition from the religion of peace.

“The Holy Spirit is working mightily in Egypt,” said Jerry Dykstra, the media relations director for Open Doors. “There is revival and many coming to Christ. Yes, there are many dangers for Christians, especially from the Muslim Brotherhood extremists. But for decades we have seen that in times of great persecution, the Gospel is preached and people turn to the Lord.”

Read about it at Maghreb Christians.

Sermon on Christian Witness and Evangelism

Nice sermon here on the Gospel and witness to Muslims. Check it out:

threestreamschurch

Camel urine, your health and Yemen

Drinking camel urine is an Islamic remedy that comes from the Prophet himself. It is alive and well today in Yemen:

Bottled urine from the desert animal can be found throughout the Old City, with at least five shops selling the item for an average of YR300 ($1.40) per 750 ml. bottle    

Rumored, but not scientifically proven, to offer health benefits for a number of ailments, Yemenis as well as those across Gulf have been consuming the animal urine for centuries. 

“I drink a cup of camel urine every morning,” said 67-year-old Um Aziz, an Old City resident. 

Read more about it here, and keep the people of Yemen in your prayers, that the light of Christ might shine upon their land and that many would come to faith.

Sad News

Recently got news that two of our supporting churches are dropping us. Makes the heart sad. Nothing personal, just changing missionary strategies or something like that... Please pray that others would step in to make up for the loss.

The Myth of Muslim Tolerance in Spain

Great article at the New English Review titled 'The Myth of the Golden Age of Tolerance in Medieval Muslim Spain' by Norman Berdichevsky. Here is an excerpt:

The tolerant Spain of The Three Great Monotheistic Religions [...] gradually contracted and was eventually extinguished as a result of repeated invasions of the peninsula from North Africa by severe Muslim-Berber tribes people who brought with them a fanaticism reminiscent of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Only later did a resurgent Christian-Hispanic reaction begin to imitate this intolerance. The term “Golden Age” of Muslim Spain most correctly applies to a relatively short period from the eighth to the mid-eleventh century and is even more accurate when applied to the Christian North of the country for a period of more than three hundred years. (1050-1390).

Read the whole article here.

The Economist: why going on Haj is getting harder

From The Economist:

But the growing global Muslim population of 1.6 billion, coupled with cheaper international travel, has brought its own problems. Back in 2004, 2.2m Muslims went to Mecca. Last year the number was 3.2m, the highest ever. Stampedes in 1990, 2004 and 2006 caused hundreds of deaths. This year Saudi Arabia, which gives a quota of haj visas to each country on the basis of the size of its Muslim population, has slashed the number of visas for foreign pilgrims by 20%, as it carries out renovation works to expand the capacity of the Grand Mosque. Thanks to an outbreak of the coronavirus in the Kingdom, many countries have asked elderly and sick Muslims not to travel.

Read it all HERE. Pray for Muslims as they go on Haj, that God will draw them close to himself through his Son our Savior, Jesus Christ, by the power of his Spirit.

Turkey: a mixed bag for religious freedom

Turkey can be a difficult country to interpret. On the one hand, legal conversion there is possible and I very much appreciate that. On the other hand, the notions of identity there mean that anyone who leaves Islam is understood to have betrayed the Turkish people.

But here is a little bit of good news:

For almost a century, the bells of St. Giragos, a magnificent 14th-century church built of sturdy black basalt bricks, were silent.

Severely damaged during the 1915 massacre and deportation of local Christians, it stood roofless and abandoned for decades, a poignant reminder of the void left by the killing of its congregants.
Yet for several months now the tolling of bells can once again be heard emanating from the belfry and echoing through the city’s narrow alleyways and busy markets.

St. Giragos recently underwent an extensive $3 million dollar restoration that included a new roof, the reconstruction of all seven of its original altars—a unique feature for a church, which usually has just one—and the return of an iron bell to its belfry.

“Right now the bells are just symbolic,” said Arahim Demirciyen, an ethnic Armenian who rings the bells twice a day. “A priest is currently in training in the Armenian quarter in Jerusalem. When he finishes and arrives here we can also start holding regular weekly services.”

Well, God bless this small community, and may this church be willing to welcome believers in Christ from among the Turks and Kurds and not only the Armenians. From HERE.

Abu Daoud interviewed by VirtueOnline

I was recently interviewed by David Virtue at VirtueOnline. Here is an excerpt:

VOL: We hear there are conversions of Muslims to Christ. Many Muslims are seeing visions and dreams of the risen Christ. Can you speak to that? 

ABU DAOUD: We should not lose heart. "The Church is an anvil which has worn out many hammers" (Beza). Muslims are turning to Christ in unprecedented numbers. Not so much here in Israel and Palestine, but it is happening there too. Training Christians in the USA to be effective in reaching out to Muslims is at the heart of the new stage of our mission back in the USA. If there are any parishes out there interested in learning about this they can contact me through my blog, islamdom.blogspot.com. 

But as to the traditional churches in Israel including the Anglican churches, there is little or no future. Israel is the one country in the region where Muslims can legally convert to Christianity, yet it hardly ever happens. Anglicans in the Diocese of Jerusalem are mostly allergic to the idea. There are some exceptions, but not many. Anglicanism may well die out; the same goes for the Orthodox and Catholic churches, but the faith won't die out. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent lay hold of it." 

You will want to read the whole thing.

What Abu Daoud predicted about the Arab Spring

Hi All,

I was recently going over this interview I did with Don Warrington at Positive Infinity for another interview I'm doing right now, and I was struck by how I nailed the Arab Spring all the way back in January of 2012. Check this out:

6) Where do you see MENA going, especially in view of events such as the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the Arab Spring?

This is the million-dollar question, isn’t it? First, the people who protested didn’t take political control, so as much as they wanted freedom and democracy, they just won’t get it, I’m sorry to say. The Egyptian elections were demonstrably corrupt, though the international press has not said so—I have no idea why. The Islamists will take power and they will not let it go. And why is this surprising? That is precisely what Muhammad did—engaged in diplomacy and compromise and so on, but once he had power he was ruthless. In the end, an Islamic society cannot be a free society. Islam and freedom are mutually exclusive.

The question I have is this: will it be like Iran? After the revolution in `79 Islam had a chance to prove itself in the political arena, and Islam, unlike Christianity, makes substantial guarantees in this area. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have concluded that Islam failed—it did not deliver politically so it must be false in terms of its religious and spiritual claims too. They have turned to Christianity some of them, and some to secular humanism or atheism. Will this happen in these newly Islamist states? Perhaps. I pray it will. Islam’s love of political power may well be its Achilles’ heel. Meanwhile, that means the native Christians need to stay as long as they can, and foreign missionaries like me need to stay no matter what. I will do it. Maybe the kids and wife need to go back to the US, I will do everything I can to stay here even if all hell breaks loose.

Anyway, if you didn't read the interview when it came out, I think it contains a good summary of my own philosophy of mission and opinions regarding the Arab world today: here are Part 1 and Part 2.

How many virgins may a Muslim get in Paradise?