Do What's In Your Power
Dear Friends, A woman in Iran urgently needs your prayers & your influence. Her children need your compassion and active voice.
Proverbs charges us to speak up for those who have no voice. A women condemned to die in an Iranian prison is virtually voiceless. Her son and daughter are praying and pleading that the world?s community would lift their voices and stop the cruel execution of their innocent mother. (see their letter below) It is hard to imagine the possibility of a woman being stoned still exists...sadly it does.
They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ?All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!? John 8:7 NLT
This situation demands an answer. Will we stand up and rise to the question. I believe you will pause long enough to stop these stones from flying.
What if this was your mother? Sister? Or daughter? How would you want others to respond?
Prayer? Yes certainly pray! But what of those with the power to do more? Wouldn?t you hope (and pray) intent and action would be added to prayer?
May each individual, family, community, church and organization do what is in their power.
You are more powerful than you know.
Below are some options/resources and links so you can exercise your influence and be part of stopping this type of atrocity. If only a 1000 pastors motivated 100 members in their churches to write a letter...10,000 letters /emails would travel & serve as voices with the potential to stop this from happening.
To make this as easy as possible. We have included sample letters to be emailed or mailed to the following organizations: THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS NAVI PILLAY, UN High Commissioner for the Office of Human Rights
Please copy and used with individual names. Thank you for opening your heart to this Mother and her children.
If each of us does our possible God can do the impossible.
Lisa Bevere Messenger International
(Feel free to repost & reprint this document and use the information within however you see best.)
Two things to do: 1) Please send the sample letters adjusted per your preferences to the targeted recipients 2) Please send the children?s letter to your local newspaper with an explanation of why we need to support these children and take a stand against brutal execution in Iran.
LETTER FROM THE CHILDREN OF SAKINE MOHAMMADI: Do not allow our nightmare become a reality, Protest against our mother?s stoning!
Today we stretch out our hands to the people of the whole world. It is now five years that we have lived in fear and in horror, deprived of motherly love. Is the world so cruel that it can watch this catastrophe and do nothing about it?
We are Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani?s children, Farideh and Sajjad Mohamamadi e Ashtiani. Since our childhood we have been acquainted with the pain of knowing that our mother is imprisoned and awaiting a catastrophe. To tell the truth, the term ?stoning? is so horrific that we try never to use it. We instead say our mother is in danger, she might be killed, and she deserves everyone?s help.
Today, when nearly all options have reached dead-ends, and our mother?s lawyer says that she is in a dangerous situation, we resort to you. We resort to the people of the world, no matter who you are and where in the world you live. We resort to you, people of Iran, all of you who have experienced the pain and anguish of the horror of losing a loved one.
Please help our mother return home!
We especially stretch our hand out to the Iranians living abroad. Help to prevent this nightmare from becoming reality. Save our mother. We are unable to explain the anguish of every moment, every second of our lives. Words are unable to articulate our fear?
Help to save our mother. Write to and ask officials to free her. Tell them that she doesn?t have a civil complainant and has not done any wrong. Our mother should not be killed. Is there any one hearing this and rushing to our assistance?
Farideh and Sajjad Mohammadi e Ashtiani
Translation: Mission Free Iran
Disseminated by the Committee Against Stoning Mina Ahadi +49 177 569 2413
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SAMPLE LETTER TO NAVI PILLAY, UN High Commissioner for the Office of Human Rights:
Send to: npillay@ohchr.org, with copies to: urgent-action@ohchr.org, Iran_team@amnesty.org, saneif@hrw.org MAIL to: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Dear Ms. Pillay,
I am writing to you with an urgent demand that you intervene with the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who are preparing to execute by stoning Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani. Stoning is a barbaric form of torture and execution that should be outlawed worldwide. It is your responsibility to step in and demand a halt to these proceedings.
The children of Ms. Mohammadi e Ashtiana have written a letter in her defense, and have issued a call to the world asking for help. Their letter is here; I suggest you read it, and then act according to their heartrending demands. http://missionfreeiran.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/sakine-children-2
Sincerely, [your name]
* * * * *
SAMPLE LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS:
Send to: Florian Westphal (fwestphal@icrc.org) and Dorothea Krimitsas (dkrimitsas@icrc.org)
Dear Ms. Westphal and Ms. Krimitsas,
I am writing to you with an urgent request that you intervene with the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who are preparing to execute by stoning Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani. Stoning is a barbaric form of torture and execution that should be outlawed worldwide. Multilateral organizations have thus far refused to step in and put a halt to the criminal actions perpetrated by the Islamic Republic. Your mandate encourages your organization to undertake the work of visiting prisoners in situations of internal violence, where the Geneva Conventions do not apply. I ask you to step in and demand a halt to these and other ongoing criminal and barbaric proceedings in the Islamic Republic
The children of Ms. Mohammadi e Ashtiana have written a letter in her defense, and have issued a call to the world asking for help. Their letter is here; please read it, and then act according to their heartrending demands. http://missionfreeiran.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/sakine-children-2
Sincerely, [your name]
Blessings Have Prerequisites
This is the second topic discussed in an interview with John, conducted by Brian Proffit, director of Preaching Unleashed, and the Denver Christianity Examiner. Thank you for the comments on the first interview! Continue to give us your feedback!
Brian: John, I appreciate that your message is not just ?name it and claim it.? You make it clear in Extraordinary that there are prerequisites like truly seeking to live a holy life. Why isn't that talked about as much?
John: I believe there are three reasons people aren't talking about holiness: Number one, there is a personal responsibility. We are living in an age when people want to place all the responsibility on God, and not take the responsibility of cooperating with Him on themselves.
Number two, when we do speak on holiness it narrows the road. So we have to decide whether we're willing to speak a message where a rich young ruler who loves his money more than he loves God might turn around and walk away, or will we broaden the message so he stays and feels comfortable with us and our ministry. I think those are the biggest reasons holiness has been shied away from.
A third reason is that there were mean-spirited legalistic preachers who beat people up with an unhealthy, unscriptural view of holiness. They made it into a very legalistic thing.
So no, some don't want anything to do with teaching holiness because they don't want to be associated with the pain of legalism, which I believe, is so against the heart of God.
I'll never forget when God said to me, ?Holiness is not a product of your flesh, it is a work of my grace?but you have to cooperate with my grace.? So if the Bible tells me that I can live a pure, godly life, a blameless life walking worthy before God, I know that God has give me the grace to do that?but I have to cooperate with that grace. Since God has chosen to give us free will we can choose not to cooperate with his grace, but the empowerment is there. That's the beauty?grace empowers us, but we still have the free will to choose to yield to its empowerment.
Brian: I guess it's just not what people want to hear right now, so many choose not to narrow that road by speaking it.
John: I'm blown away by the lifestyles that people are living, going to evangelical churches. It's just mind-blowing. I can understand when somebody first comes in and they are beginning to hear the message. But when people say, ?I've been attending this church for five years and I'm still living with this lady,? I'm wondering why you haven't felt any conviction. Because if the Holy Spirit is there and if the Word is being preached, there is going to be a conviction in your heart to live a godly life; to walk in a manner that is worthy of God.
Brian: I heard someone once describe life as being like ripples on a pond, with little rises and dips as it moves along. His point was that when Jesus talked about giving us life more abundant, those ripples become more like ocean waves with really large peaks and really deep lows. That seems to have been the experience of a great many Christians. How do we reconcile that with teachings on health and prosperity?
John: Paul said that through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of heaven. The word ?enter? means to arise and come into. So putting those things together, the Bible says through many tribulations we arise and come into the rule of God's authority. That means that a believer no longer looks at it as a high and a low, but a believer says a trial, a hardship, is not an obstacle; it's a stepping stone that will help them rise further into the kingdom.
Brian: Like the passage in James that says count it all joy when you go through trials.
John: And the only person who could count it joy is the person who knows that that trial is going to bring him or her to the next level in the spirit. James goes on to say in that chapter?and I find it amazing that people never put the two together?that ?Blessed is the man who endures the trial, for after he is tried he will receive the crown of life.? The reason we ignore that is because we think that's one of the crowns we're going to throw at Jesus' feet in the throne room. That is not what he is talking about. The crown speaks of authority, and with authority comes power. That means we've got an authority over the area of our life in which we were just tried.
If you look at Luke's gospel it says Jesus went into the wilderness filled with the spirit but he returned in power. He was tempted for 40 days by the devil. He passed and he came out in the power.
So let me give you an example. I was deeply, deeply offended by a leader. It took me two and a half years to get over that. It was my own fault that it took so long; it should have been a lot quicker. But when I finally met with that man and we reconciled, my life changed. Out of that experience I wrote a book called Bait of Satan, and now that book has sold over a million copies and it has transformed so many lives. When I was going through that trial, that dip to use your word, it was so difficult. But I look back now and I see all the lives that have been changed. And in myself, I have had many wonderful opportunities to get offended again, but I overcame that trial and now I have an authority over that area of life that is God-given. That's what James is talking about. I rose and entered into the rule of God in that area of life. And not only has it helped me not to fall into that trap again, but it has helped me to help over a million people.
So when you have a perspective like that on trials and hardships, then you get a really good attitude about it. If you look at 2 Corinthians you see that Paul had a really bad attitude! He said I'm going through this infirmity and I pleaded with the Lord three times to take this thing away from me. The word ?infirmity? if you look at the original, it means ?weakness.? And God said Paul haven't you figured this out yet, my grace is all you need, because my power is made perfect in your human inability. Once that revelation got to Paul he says, ?Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses.? He goes from pleading to God to take it away from him to taking pleasure in it. Why did his whole attitude change? Because he realized that what he had seen as a dip was really God giving him an opportunity to rise further into the spirit of God.
This book was written in the fall of 56 A.D. Paul wrote Romans in the spring of 57 A.D., six months later. In the book of Romans his whole paradigm had been shifted. He said, ?Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors.?
So this is not at all the attitude he had six months earlier. He went from ?Please take this away,? to ?In all things we are more than conquerors.? He was able to do that because he heard God say, ?Haven't you figured this out yet? My grace is all you need, because my grace, my strength, my power, is made perfect in your human inability.
So Paul got the revelation that without a battle there's no victory! Without resistance, there's not going to be a promotion. So I'm now going to do what Jesus did. In Hebrews, talking about Jesus, it says, ?Who, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.? What was the joy? He was going to have many sons and daughters saved into the kingdom. So when we see what comes out on the other side...if we believe and obey God...then we get full of joy.
Brian: John, let's start with something simple and non-controversial: speaking in tongues. I pastored a Baptist church, but I was also the discipleship pastor at an Assemblies of God church for a time. After being there several months during which I continually prayed for every bit of the Holy Spirit that God wanted me to have, I fasted for an entire week. At the end of the week, the leaders of the church came around me, laid their hands on me, and prayed for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Rather than coming away from that with an experience of speaking in tongues, I came away with a peace that I already had the Holy Spirit within me?He just didn't choose to manifest Himself in the external ways that they were praying for. There are incredible people of God on both sides of the ?external signs? question who I respect immensely. So my question?as someone who sincerely wants every bit of the Holy Spirit I can get?is speaking in tongues the only acceptable evidence that someone has been indwelt?
John: I think you're asking an age-old question that has been discussed in our generation quite a bit. I think the question is unfair, to be very honest with you. I've seen people who were filled with the Holy Spirit for years, but because they just didn't step out and try it they never spoke in tongues. If you read carefully through the book of Acts, you see that the apostles made the decision that some people had received the Holy Spirit because of what they saw and heard. You will see that the apostles made the decision that ?the Gentiles have received salvation because they received the Holy Spirit like we did.? Peter talks about this being the promise of the Father, which you see and hear.
So you can definitely see that this was an indicator for the leaders of the early church of someone receiving the Holy Spirit. However in my experience, I have seen time and time again people praying to get the Holy Spirit and really believing?and yet not speaking because it takes an act of faith. For instance, when we were dating, my wife and I had prayed for her to be filled with the Spirit. We had been praying for weeks and she said later, ?I heard that syllable rolling around in my head for the past couple weeks.? And I explained to her, ?The Holy Spirit isn't the one who speaks in tongues; you're the one who speaks in tongues.? He gives the utterance and if you continue to speak in English and don't speak out in the act of faith it is not going to come. It was when she took the step to speak it out loud that the Holy Spirit took over.
Let me explain my background, and it will help you understand where I'm coming from. I came out of a church where 75% of our doctrine came from men, and 25% of it came from the Bible. When I became a believer and my eyes were opened up, I made a personal commitment to the Lord. I said, ?Father, I will believe whatever I see written in your Word whether I understand it or not.? That is the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. People ask me all the time, ?Where do you get these truths in these books?? I really believe it's because of the fear of the Lord, because I have purposed that even if I don't understand Scripture I'm going to believe it.
So when I look at 1 Corinthians 14:5, I read it like the Holy Spirit is speaking it, not a man speaking it. Paul makes it very clear on those times he's telling people, ?This is me, not the Lord.? So when I read, ?I wish you all spoke with tongues,? I have to say?and there are other verses that support this?I believe it is God's desire for everyone to speak in a heavenly prayer language.
The reason I believe God says that is because if you and I, right now, were to walk into the President's office, would we be able to communicate to him on his level? The answer is absolutely no. He knows things about the security of the United States and things going on that we don't know. He would have to come down to our level of communication and understanding. If I were to speak with a highly scientific man, would we be able to communicate on his level? No, he will have to come down to us and communicate at our level.
I believe the reason God did this [prayer language] was so when we came to His throne we weren't limited to Him coming down to our level of communication. He wanted us to be able to communicate to Him on His level. That's why Paul said, ?I will pray in the understanding (which for us means in English) and I will pray with the spirit.?
So, it's very good that we can go to God's throne and speak in English and speak out of our own understanding, but God effectively said, ?I want to give you one step better. I don't always want to come down to your level of communication; I want to be able to communicate to you on My level.?
That's why I believe Paul said, and really it was the Holy Spirit, ?I wish you all prayed or spoke in tongues.? So I really believe people can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and the reason they're not speaking in tongues is simply because they haven't been taught how to yield to it?just as you can be in a river completely, but not necessarily yielded to it to where you're flowing in it. But you're in it.
So Brian, I do believe you're filled with the Holy Spirit. But I do also believe that you, if you want?and I believe God wants it?are able to speak with other tongues. And by the way, before you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit... you had the Holy Spirit from the moment you were saved because no one is saved except by the Holy Spirit. There is a measure of the Spirit of God in each one when we are saved. We become one with the Lord who is the Holy Spirit.
But what we're talking about is...when Jesus was talking to the apostles, he didn't say you'd receive tongues; he said you'd receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. So, they all got the Holy Spirit when they were saved. Every one of the people where Philip preached in Samaria was saved. They were all baptized in water. But then the apostles went down and prayed for them to be filled. So, they all got the Holy Spirit when they were saved, but there was a measure of power that came on them after the apostles prayed for them.
Brian: I appreciate that, John. This will lead to more reading and studying because I'd be an idiot to not want all of the Holy Spirit that I can get.
John: I can sense your hunger, your openness, your thirst for God. To be very honest with you, I have people who say, ?I'm Spirit-filled and speak in tongues? and they don't have half the hunger I can sense coming out of you right now. And that's important.
You know what? I really had a desire to learn how to swim, and I tried it a few times and failed. But, I never lost my desire and eventually one day it clicked. And once you learn to swim, you can flow with the current. It's not about believing; it's not even about obeying, though those are first steps. It's about yielding. You keep trying and one day it?s going to work out.
It's not like I think less of those who don't. I have preached in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, even Protestant churches because I have learned that my brothers and sisters from different circles have parts I need. We all know in part and we prophesy in part. So, you have something I need. I have a part that maybe you need. If we keep that attitude, then we keep growing.
Dieting vs. Fasting - Part 3
Fasting changed my perception by changing my focus. This in turn caused me to change the way I lived. I didn?t live for food or weight ? I lived for God. Even on a natural fast you will experience an increase in eyesight clarity. On a spiritual fast you will have your spiritual eyes stripped of scales that have blinded them.
After the fast I saw everything differently. My eyes were illuminated by God?s Word and truth. My eyes shifted off me and onto my Father God. I could see the right path on which to walk, and I recognized my former errors in judgment. A fast will give you a new vision and a new direction for your life.
Like David, I had humbled myself with fasting (Ps. 35:13). When we humble ourselves we bring our lives into submission and subjection. I brought my soul and, inevitably, my body under subjection to God?s Word and truth. Before that I had been in submission to the cravings and appetites of my flesh and soul.
Fasting is not just about food; it is about separation. This separation represents a consecration to the Lord, a change in our relationship with Him. God imparts His outlook on this matter by outlining the fast that pleases Him:
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter ? when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh, and blood? Isaiah 58:6-7
The fast God chooses loosens chains, unties cords, sets free, breaks every yoke, puts you in a position to share and provide for others, and turns your heart toward the needs of your own flesh and blood.
God is challenging us to fast so that we might become people who are transformed. Whenever we truly fast and turn to God for His assistance, He hears us, He responds with protection, provision, direction, and healing. There is not one of us who in our own strength could provide all this. No matter how much money or wisdom we have, it will always fail us if we trust in it. God will never fail those who trust in Him.
Dieting vs. Fasting ? Part 2
The fast God led me to in the weeks prior to my wedding was not really about food at all ? it was about faith. I previously placed my faith in my weight. During my fast I learned to transfer my dependency to God. I wanted to know Him; I wanted His truth in my innermost being. I wanted transformation - not weight reduction.
My fast was not the turning point for my weight loss; it was the turning point for my faith. I had trusted in my self, only to be disappointed. I needed a spiritual and emotional overhaul. When I saw this idolatry within: ?I wept and chastened my soul with fasting. ? Psalm 69:10 (NKJV)
David chastened his soul. The soul confused slim with success. My soul longed for my father?s approval and for the approval of men. My soul distorted my vision and perceptions until my physical size, shape, and weight dominated my thought life. I allowed my soul to lead me away from truth. My soul had to be chastened, and I had to be the one to do it. I had to rise up in the spirit and subject my soul to a chastening fast.
To chasten is to ?discipline, purify, refine, clarify, and improve.? Discipline is training, and I had to be reprogrammed. Chastening was necessary to educate and cultivate a new me. This chastening by fasting began a purification and refinement of my soul and motives. The clarification brought insight so I could once again see clearly. Just as parents discipline their children to help them grown and learn right from wrong, my soul had to be chastened so it could improve and become wiser.
This refinement of my soul worked its way out and overtook my natural body and appetites. It was refined and purified by denial. Once the cravings of my soul were mastered, the cravings of my flesh followed. I was no longer inflamed with a passion for food. My body was denied salt and sugar and the use of these came back into balance.
When I could no longer comfort myself with food, I ran to God for comfort. I recovered all the lost thought-time and productivity that I had lent to my obsession with food and weight. All the hours of research and study were redirected. I had been relieved of the relentless burden of worry and fear over my weight. I felt the lightness of a captive set free from a hard and unforgiving taskmaster. My efforts were never good enough before, and I was never thin enough.
My emotions tipped back into balance. They were no longer tied to the fragile and fickle red arrow of my scale. Before, I hated myself when I was fat, and I loved myself when I was thin. My whole self-image could be shattered with the slightest changing of the indicator on my scale. My sense of worth was dictated by the opinions or reactions of others to my physical shape. Even when I was thin, I was tormented by the fear. The obsession caused me to live on the edge of extreme elation or deep depression.
This would seem a contradiction since both are a restriction of food. Although, the difference lies in the purpose or motive that inspires them. A diet is designed to help you lose or gain weight. A change of diet may also be initiated to improve or correct health problems. Dieting is a natural application that alters our physical wellbeing, weight or health. It changes the way we look or feel.
Fasting is different. Fasting is not for weight gain or loss. Nor is it limited to natural healing. It is not designed to change the way we look and feel but to change the way we perceive and live. A diet may change the way you look, but a fast will change the way you see. A diet may change your appearance, but a fast will change the way you live, altering your inner perspective. The world has perverted and reduced the fast, diminishing it to a diet. As such, it is not a spiritual renewal, but a physical one. But the deepest transformations are brought about from the inside out.
Before my confrontation with truth, I?d really only fasted to lose weight. Granted, I might have done a combination fast and diet, using reasoning such as this: I need to lose weight, and I need direction, so I?ll fast and accomplish both. But on this type of fast, food and weight are still the focus. I have searched the Scriptures and found no reference in God?s Word to a fast prescribed for weight loss. Your focus or motive on a fast will be your reward. If God isn?t the center, it will be reduced to merely a time of denial.
Today 81 Haitian children awoke to the dawn of a new day. Having withstood the rigorous trek from Haiti to the United States, they arrived in Miami late into the night. Their adoptive parents who had traveled from across the nation tirelessly awaited their arrival as they completed the customs process. Once the children were released they were met by cheers and unbridled tears from parents who had dreamed of the day when they could hold them in their arms and know that they were finally home!
This would not have been possible without your support. All throughout this past week our Relief Team reported that they could feel your constant prayers. Thank you for recognizing the urgency of this tragedy and for responding with determination.
Caravan to the airport, making its way through the rubble in Port au Prince.
Beautiful Haitian children from GLA begin the long journey.
After having seizures Baby Rose-leura is stabilized and brought on board by a nurse.
Getting off the plane in Miami!!!
Parents eagerly await their children's arrival late into the night.
Children now safe in the arms of loving parents!
As we rejoice in the homecoming of these 81 orphans, our hearts burn for those who are still in Haiti. As you can imagine, the logistics surrounding an operation like this are numerous and great. At this time, we do not have the ability to transport another group of orphans due to the legalities and logistics. Each child has to have a Visa and proper paperwork in place to enter the United States. We will continue to assess every opportunity that comes our way and let you know if future developments or operations take place. Thank you again for your love, prayer and support.
With Love,
John & Lisa
Images courtesy of Joe & Jill Wilkins & Bruce Ely/The Oregonian
