4 Minute Devotions: Striped Pajamas

The Boy in Striped Pajamas is a new Holocaust movie with some very important messages about raising children.

Podcast version here

Deuteronomy 11:19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

I went to a free screening of a new movie the other night. It is called “The Boy in Striped Pajamas.” The story is about two boys who are separated by the electric barbed wires of a concentration camp. One boy, called Bruno, is the son of the Commandant of the camp. The other boy, Schmoel, is the son of a Jewish watchmaker.

It’s a very sad movie and the ending is heartbreaking. I left the theater stunned. I don’t know whether or not to recommend it to anyone. It’s not a feel good movie at all, although it does have many important messages to impart.

For instance, several times during the movie, Bruno is being taught by an old fascist teacher. He’s being indoctrinated into the Nazi party line. Bruno resists this because of his friendship with Schmoel. Bruno’s sister, however, becomes infatuated with Nazism and begins to change her personality. It’s a good lesson about how impressionable children actually are. They can be molded, manipulated, and brainwashed at an early age. They are learning machines, especially between the ages of 8-12. What influences them during those years usually shapes their character for years to come.

That’s why it’s very important for parents to be parents to their children, and not friends. If we set no boundaries, we only end up raising savages. Children need boundaries because the world that they will grow up into has some serious boundaries.

This lesson also applies to the Church. When we teach our children faith in Christ, we’re giving them strength for the future and hope for what lies ahead of them. If we neglect to share our faith with them, they will lose their connection to God. Sadly, too many adults end up becoming addicted to tobacco, sex, drugs, or alcohol simply because they feel spiritually empty and cut off from God. If we can teach them to have faith at an impressionable age, then we may save them from some of society’s ills.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, our children are precious gifts in our lives and community. Help us to share the joy of our faith with them, so that they may grow nearer and closer to You throughout their adult lives. Keep us mindful of the cultural persuaders that would undermine Your influence over them. Help us to help our children avoid them. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

4 Minute Devotions: Holocaustic or Holistic?

Do we use faith as a weapon of fear and hostility, or as an instrument of compassion and reconciliation?

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2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

I grew up at a time when the world was constantly threatened with a nuclear holocaust. I don’t know where or when I learned about the US-Soviet arms race, but I can remember worrying about a nuclear war even during the best of my younger days.

It was a terrible fear to live under. It tainted every aspect of life. As a teenager, I wanted to try anything and everything before the world was wiped out and blown to smithereens. I didn’t care about what I did or who I hurt, because the world didn’t care about hurting me.

And then things changed. Several movies on the TV and the big screen made us all aware of our madness. “Threads,” “War Games,” and even “The Martian Chronicles” showed us all the futility of nuclear deterrents and Cold War antagonism. A shift in the philosophies of Western and Soviet leaders brought about concord and pacts were made to avoid the holocaust that I and billions of other people on earth dreaded.

Christian fatalists, who used today’s verse with glee as a means to get people fearfully saved before the impending holocaust, were disregarded as a new hope blossomed throughout the world. Books like “The Late Great Planet Earth” and songs like “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” were set aside. Instead of fear being used as a method to convert people to Christ, peace and love, along with redemption and reconciliation, were offered as a means of getting to know Jesus.

Perhaps you’re anxious about your family and friends, and worry about their salvation. Maybe you come across as being fearful instead of faithful, crushing instead of Christian, or hellish instead of heavenly. Think about how Jesus loved and embraced sinners in order to gain their trust. Think about how He employed compassion and reconciliation in order to open hearts and minds. Think about these Christ-like things and then apply them. Don’t be hostile or holocaustic with your faith; instead, become helpful and holistic.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, save us from using fear to bring others to faith. Instead, allow us to be compassionate and loving, gracious and generous in order to attract people to You and Your Kingdom. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

British 'Moralist' says Dementia Patients Have a 'Duty to Die'

By Hilary White
9/23/2008
LifeSiteNews


"If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives - your family's lives - and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service."

LONDON, (LifeSiteNews) - In an interview, Baroness Mary Helen Warnock has said that people suffering dementia have a duty to commit suicide.

Baroness Warnock, called the "philosopher queen", is regarded as Britain's leading moral philosopher. She said that she hopes people will soon be "licensed to put others down" who have become a burden on the health care system. She told the Church of Scotland's Life and Work magazine, "If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives - your family's lives - and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service."

In another article for a Norwegian periodical, titled "A Duty to Die?" she suggests, "There's nothing wrong with feeling you ought to do so [commit suicide] for the sake of others as well as yourself.

In other contexts, sacrificing oneself for one's family would be considered good. I don't see what is so horrible about the motive of not wanting to be an increasing nuisance." Baroness Warnock's comments come as prominent voices in Britain's House of Lords continue to advocate for legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, said she was concerned about the influence Warnock has. "Because of her previous experiences and well-known standing on contentious moral issues, Baroness Warnock automatically gives moral authority to what are entirely immoral view points."

Contemporary utilitarianism - the idea that individual lives are of no inherent value and can be sacrificed for the good of society - is widely held in modern academia and medical circles. The principles of utilitarianism form the foundation for the modern "bioethics" (of which Baroness is a prominent proponent) that has largely replaced traditional Natural Law medical ethics that follow the principle of "do no harm" in many modern national health care systems.

Read the rest of the story here…

4 Minute Devotions: In God's Name

Religious fanaticism needs to be confronted and denounced no matter where it originates or operates. Christ is the Prince of Peace and we, as Christians, have a holy calling and distinct obligation to seek reconciliation and promote His peaceable Kingdom throughout the world.

Podcast version here

Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.

Yesterday, I read an article about a Muslim cleric in Britain who is calling for Sharia laws to be upheld by British courts. He preaches vehemently and insists that thieves, male or female, should have their hands cut off, and that unmarried couples who have sex should be publicly flogged.

Meanwhile, over here in Oklahoma, a Baptist Church is giving away a semi-automatic assault rifle as a door prize at a YOUTH Conference.

What on earth is going on? And why isn’t God doing something about these fanatics?

We live in troubled times. I know that I can be ornery and stubborn when it comes to faith matters, but I would never dream of calling for punishing amputations or giving teenagers a machine gun. These people, pastors, and clerics are crazy and no matter how zealous they are for Allah or the Second Amendment, this is not faith as Jesus would have described it; this is religious fanaticism at its worst and we should all denounce it as an evil under the sun.

No wonder so many people get turned off by religion these days. If worshipping God turns us into limb-hacking, gun-toting devotees, then we should avoid it at all costs. Human history is littered with enough corpses attributed to religious fanaticism. We don’t need another Holy War, genocidal jihad, or holocaustic crusade to glorify God. I’m sure He’s just as sick as we are with those who use His Name to maim or murder infidels and sinners. After all, the world painfully tortured and unjustly killed His Son on a cross – no more blood needs to be shed to reconcile, redeem, and restore humanity to God’s holiness.

The challenge for us today is to stand up to these belligerent bullies and misguided maniacs by promoting the peace of Christ in our lives. After all, if the world does not see the Jesus within us through our outward acts of mercy and grace, then fanaticism will contaminate our communities and put this planet in peril for generations to come.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to find the high ground and empower us to effectively confront religious fanaticism without ourselves becoming vitriolic vigilantes or malicious messengers. Keep us on Your path to peace and reconciliation, without becoming appeasers or enablers to those who would forcefully oppress us with their fanaticisms. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Sand Lines

John 10:37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.

It’s time to draw a line in the sand. One of Britain’s newspaper, the Daily Mail, has reported today that the Holocaust will no longer be taught in High schools because it offends Muslims. Islamic religious schools have been teaching for years that Jews weren’t slaughtered by Hitler in their millions during World War II. They have protested so much about this in some regions of Britain, that, in order to keep the peace, the Holocaust is not being taught. This is political correctness gone much too far. This is unbelievable.

In our wee congregation at Erin, we have two special people whose lives were deeply affected by Hitler’s holocaust. Sonja was a child of the Holocaust, whose parents were murdered by the Nazis in a concentration camp. She escaped death as a young child because her parents handed her over to Dutch Christians. Are the British schools going to deny that Sonja’s painful and terrifying experience ever occurred, simply because her personal history offends Muslims?

Bill was a soldier during World War II and he was amongst the first wave of American troops who entered the concentration camps. He saw, smelled and heard the sickening sight of thousands of bodies that had been burned, gassed and mutilated by the Nazi guards. He met with the survivors first hand and saw how scrawny, filthy and skeletal they had become. Are the British schools going to tell Bill it was only a hallucination, a bad dream, even a nightmare?

It’s time to wake up and smell what’s happening to our civilization. For too long we have been tolerant of these intolerant religious fanatics. We are in a war where two sides are struggling to control and triumph over civilization. Are we going to bury our heads in the sand until it’s too late, leaving our grandchildren to be overcome by holy warriors who want to take away our freedoms, liberties, our history and traditions.

If we don’t believe this is happening, then we need to start informing ourselves of what’s really going on. If you don’t like what I’m writing, then try this link for size and read it as your leisure:

Muslims in Nigeria Club Christian Teacher to Death - Obed Minchakpu
Students, extremists stone, beat and burn her after 'desecration' of yet-unfound Quran.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, there are evil forces in the world today that seek to rewrite history and cross out events like the Holocaust. As we head into Holy Week, remind us of this solemn and somber time, where evil sought to triumph and extinguish Your good. Open our hearts and minds and help us to draw lines in the sand. In Your Holy Name, we fearfully pray. Amen.