Pneuma Informer, February-March 2011

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The February-March 2011 PNEUMA INFORMER

 

          In this issue

 

What's New at www.PneumaFoundation.org

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65545

     New Online Articles

     New Links and Content Worth Noticing

Reports from Around the World

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65594

     2010 persecution escalation continues into 2011

     Somali Pirates Kill Bible Distributors

     Honduras: Another Pastor murdered

     Jamaica: Revival in Kingston

     USA: Planned Parenthood Busted Helping Human Traffickers

     Pakistan Backs Away from Defamation of Religions at UN

     South Sudan to secede from North

     Uzbekistan: "All talk about the Constitution and democracy is hypocrisy"

     LOVE WINS Draws Controversy and Readers

     News and Headlines

     Report the News

Resources You Can Use

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65799

Upcoming Conferences

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65825

Excerpts from THE PNEUMA REVIEW

Stephen Lim, "Ten Keys to Managing Anxiety"

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65856

Ward's WORDS OF LIFE, Reviewed by Jim Purves

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65872

Prayer Requests

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml#N65889

Support the Pneuma Foundation

     http://www.pneumafoundation.org/supporting.jsp


Read the Pneuma Informer online: http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pi.jsp?pi=/2011/pi_0203_2011.xml



What's New at www.PneumaFoundation.org

New Online Articles New Links and Content Worth Noticing

Reports from Around the World

2010 persecution escalation continues into 2011
Christian persecution ramped up in 2010, but Tom Doyle with E3 Partners says, "We have just been sensing, since the beginning of the year, that it's going to be worse this year." Already, Christian and secular news sources alike have reported a rise in persecution worldwide, but especially in the Middle East. Besides the arrests of 70 Christians in Iran, attacks on believers in Egypt and the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, "We've been hearing things out of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, things out of the Gaza strip where there are threats, where believers are bracing themselves," says Doyle. Much of the persecution has to do with Muslim extremism in the Middle East. "We just see this volcano ready to erupt that Islam is going to be a major part of, with persecution toward believers all throughout the region," Doyle observes. Our biggest defense is prayer. "We're praying for the spread of the Gospel, the spread of new believers becoming true disciples, and building the church in these areas of darkness." Read the full story online. www.mnnonline.org/article/15219

Somali Pirates Kill Bible Distributors
Scott Adam, a graduate of Fuller Seminary, was killed with three others after they were taken hostage www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/februaryweb-only/somalipirates.html

Honduras: Another Pastor murdered
Compass Direct News Service (CDNS) reports that Pastor Carlos Roberto Marroquin, 41, was shot to death by two assailants in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, near his house on February 21st, 2011. Marroquin was the founding pastor of the Pentecostal Church of God in San Pedro Sula, as well as the founder and president of the Christian Legal Fellowship, co-founder of the Latin American Network of Christian Lawyers and president-elect of the Association of Evangelical Pastors in San Pedro Sula. Several sources confirm he has received death threats prior to his assassination. Police is still investigating the case. The murder of the pastor has focused attention on Honduras' alarming murder rate and the regular threats that Christian workers there receive. According to the report of CDNS Marroquin was the second pastor to be murdered in Honduras this year, after the Jan. 30 killing of Raymundo Fuentes, 43, pastor of the New Jerusalem Temple.
Source: WEA Religious Liberty Prayer News, 1 March 2011

Jamaica: Revival in Kingston
Kingston festival draws thousands away from unhealthy religiosity.
Read the full story: mnnonline.org/article/15514
Source: Mission Network News, 28 March, 2011.

USA: Planned Parenthood Busted Helping Human Traffickers
Planned Parenthood was caught red handed helping a man posing as a child sex trafficker in New Jersey. A video taken from a hidden camera clearly shows an office manager in a private meeting with the trafficker. In the video, the man makes the nature of his business clear and details that his so-called clients are either minors or illegally present in the United States.
Source: Charisma News Online Feb 1, 2011. http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/news/30140-planned-parenthood-busted-helping-human-traffickers

Pakistan Backs Away from Defamation of Religions at UN
In a significant shift in policy, Pakistan is no longer participating in the push by the Organization of Islamic Conference to combat UN defamation of religions resolutions.
Related news: U.N. Council drops 'defamation' in resolution (MNN). mnnonline.org/article/15525
Source: http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=press&id=1141

South Sudan to secede from North
Sudan has faced years of civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in north/south violence. But the civil war has come to an end with the referendum held in January 2011, mandated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Sudan Unit Leader with Africa Inland Mission, Phil Byler, speaking from Sudan, says secession has come to South Sudan. "99 percent of the people voted to separate. Over 80 percent of the registered voters voted. And North Sudan government says they will accept the results." Byler says many compare this to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Byler has speculated that the recent crisis triggered in Tunisia that spread across the Middle East had an unintended impact. Khartoum's political clout against the south was weakened at a critical moment of separation. See mnnonline.org/article/15312 and how the "Domino effect" is rippling across the Middle East: mnnonline.org/article/15327
Official separation will not happen until July 9, 2011 as an interim government is established and elections scheduled. However, there are reasons for concern and many reasons to pray. The Muslim north could become more fundamentalist, says Byler. "They will establish Sharia law in a much stronger way in the north. And I expect the Christians will be quite marginalized and probably suffer significant persecution." Is it a concern of his? "Well, yes and no. The church often grows through persecution rather than go under with it. Who knows how the Lord will use it."
Source: Adapted from Mission Network News, 9 February, 2011. Full story: mnnonline.org/article/15335

Uzbekistan: "All talk about the Constitution and democracy is hypocrisy"
Uzbekistan continues to harass the officially registered Bible Society, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Officials have forced its General Assembly to take place in the open air, after warning churches not to host the meeting. New Bible Society Director Aleksey Voskresensky has left his teaching position at the Tashkent Protestant Seminary under pressure from the state Religious Affairs Committee. State officials have also told Bible Society officials that "it is not necessary to import Bibles into Uzbekistan since there is an electronic version of the Bible on the Internet and this is enough". Bible Society members have complained to Forum 18 that the authorities "are determined to stop import of Bibles in the national languages, and to stop distribution of the Bible in the country. We can see that all talk about the Constitution and democracy in Uzbekistan is hypocrisy". Officials have refused to discuss the issue with Forum 18.
Read the full story: http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1547

LOVE WINS Draws Controversy and Readers
The controversy about the new book by Rob Bell, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived (HarperOne, March 15, 2011) has brought a theological issue to the US national stage. 'Love Wins' Debuts at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List: Pastor and Author Rob Bell a Lightning Rod for Controversy (Christian Newswire). http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/7557116554.html
Editors of The Pneuma Review recommend these two online articles:
* Mark Galli, "Heaven, Hell, and Rob Bell: Putting the Pastor in Context: He's not the first to try to resolve old biblical tensions in new ways" (ChristianityTodayOnline, March 2, 2011) christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/marchweb-only/rob-bell-universalism.html
* Mart De Haan, "Whether 'Love Wins'... or not" Been Thinking About (March 22, 2011). beenthinking.org/2011/03/22/whether-love-wins-or-not


News and Headlines
Visit http://www.pneumafoundation.org/links.jsp for Current News and Links

See other news to pray and praise God about in the Prayer Requests department below.

Report the News
We are looking for stories about what God is doing in the world, reports about the persecution of Christians, and information about significant trends and ministry opportunities. If you have a news item to report, please send an email to the PNEUMA INFORMER. http://www.pneumafoundation.org/contactus.jsp



Resources You Can Use

David Platt's High Impact Book, RADICAL
David Platt is the Preaching Minister of the Brook Hills Church in Birmingham, Alabama. His sermon series, "Radical," was released as a book in 2010, along with lots of accompanying resources at www.radicalthebook.com and the Brook Hills website, www.brookhills.org/media/series/radical.
At the latter site, you can listen to all 8 sermons (for free!) as he originally scripted them at the church in Birmingham. The bulletin inserts and accompanying home Bible study outlines are available at no charge as well.
His messages deal with the forthright condition of the lost, as prescribed by Paul in Romans 1-3. They also speak frankly about his questions regarding how serious we are about reaching them. If you dare to listen, be ready to be challenged about your Lexus, your iPod, your pet Labrador, and the ball games you've queued up for Saturday. I'm telling you -- the guy is a meddler. :-) However, his book and his themes are getting major traction in churches all across our land. The 5 "Radical Experiment challenges" at the end of the book are providing a backdrop for churches and families to radically shift their thinking about use of spare time, funds, and futures.
Even if you're accustomed to this heavy thinking, it would do all of us well to become familiar with the paradigms as he describes them because the next church you visit just might have finished a series on Radical the week before you come. You'll want to be informed. Order the book at any website or purchase it at any bookstore. It's everywhere.
Source: Adapted from Brigada Today 2011/02/13



Upcoming Conferences

Orlando 2011: A Leadership Consultation
Re-imagine and Re-shape Evangelism and Missions in the U.S.
Where: Orlando, Florida (USA)
When: April 4-6, 2011.

Convened by The Mission America Coalition (U.S. Lausanne Committee) in partnership with The National Association of Evangelicals, The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, Campus Crusade for Christ International, Vision 360, and Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Dear Colleagues,
You probably knew about the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that was held in Cape Town October 16-25, 2010. Below is an invitation to attend a follow-up consultation to be held in Orlando April 4-6, 2011. Leaders from across the USA will gather to shape the focus of American evangelism and mission outreach for the next decade. I can't stress enough how important it is for spirit-filled leaders to participate in this strategic consultation. This will be a powerful time of seeking God's face for the power and to evangelize America.
Your brother in Christ,
Vinson Synan

Orlando 2011 is different than any other gathering the Mission America Coalition (U.S. Lausanne Committee) has designed. It is a strategic effort to shape the direction of evangelism and missions in America and the nations of the world in the next decade.

The design team participated in Cape Town 2010 (The Third Lausanne Congress) and was committed to hear what the Spirit of God was saying to the Church during Cape Town 2010. They listened and networked with leaders from around the world and developed a responsive and interactive format for Orlando 2011.

"Orlando 2011 - A Leadership Consultation" will open in a humble posture of seeking Christ and listening to the Spirit through prayer and each other.

The focus is re-imagining and re-shaping evangelism and missions, transforming the U.S. Church toward loving God and loving our neighbors, and listening to, learning from, and partnering with the global Church in reaching the nations.

The format includes a presenter each morning, who was deeply involved in planning Cape Town 2010. Table dialog will follow, then three diverse responders, and more table dialog.

The afternoons will be spent in small group "affinity consultations" with dialog and deliberation on the issues. Evenings will include worship, celebration, and a challenge to the Church.

We pray for diverse involvement from every arena of the evangelical Church -- women and men from different ethnicities, generations, and avenues of ministry bringing their perspectives to the table.

We need you among us! If you are a leader from a ministry organization, national network, academic setting, the marketplace, a city movement, a church, or a champion of evangelism in another context, bring your voice to the discussion as we seek God to transform our thinking about evangelism and missions in this decade.

www.missionamerica.org/Brix?pageID=23810


Excerpts from THE PNEUMA REVIEW

THE PNEUMA REVIEW is a quarterly printed journal of ministry resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders. For more information about THE PNEUMA REVIEW, and to learn how to subscribe, please visit: Introducing THE PNEUMA REVIEW. www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp

For a full index of the contents of all Pneuma Review issues, visit: http://www.pneumafoundation.org/pr_archive.jsp.



From the Spring 2011 issue

Ten Keys to Managing Anxiety
By Stephen Lim


"Will I be laid off?"

"Can my children avoid drugs, violence and promiscuity?"

How will this surgery go?

No matter how much we do to ensure positive outcomes, life brims with causes for worry. Anxiety arises whenever we fear possible loss or harm to our person, family, relationships or possessions. If we depend on our own resources, we can't avoid worry, for no matter how much we have, we never know if it's enough.

In limited doses anxiety motivates us. The apprehension I feel as I face deadlines focuses my energies, helping me to function at maximum efficiency. Excessive anxiety, however, however, robs us of peace of mind. It reduces our reasoning and learning ability, memory, creativity and productivity. Prolonged anxiety can lead to serious health problems.

How do people keep anxiety at a bearable level? Some avoid sources of anxiety. If meeting people makes us uneasy, we'll skip it as much as possible. Others try to escape anxiety. Studies show that women tend to cope by overeating, while men favor alcohol and drugs. For many, keeping busy provides relief, yet worry lurks just below the surface.

Instead of relying on inadequate solutions, I have found ten principles to be effective in managing anxiety:

Prevention. We should not allow circumstances to shape our lives if we can do something about them. Instead of worrying about whether our job will become obsolete, for example, we can prepare for other employment options.

People. Talking with others brings our anxieties into the open, where it's harder for our imagination to magnify them out of proportion. Examined objectively, anxieties look less menacing. When problems merit concern, supportive relationships save us from struggling alone.

Concern for the needs of others helps to take our mind off our own anxieties and put them in perspective. Karl Menninger's prescription for depression works equally well with anxiety. He advised helping someone with a greater need than ours. Jesus taught, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt 22:39).

Physical Well-being. Physical conditions affect our emotions. When we fail to get adequate rest, nutrition or exercise, we experience low moods and fatigue, intensifying our anxieties; a healthy body, on the other hand, promotes a sense of well-being.

Professional Help. When anxieties persist, we may want to search for deeper causes. Millions suffer from internal conflicts, while others are genetically more prone to worry. For the latter, self-awareness and a sense of humor help. Disease, dietary imbalance or neurological malfunctioning can also contribute to anxiety. Depending on the problem, a counselor, physician or pastor can be helpful.

Prayer. When problems are a threat, we can pray with the confidence that God hears. "Do not be anxious about anything," Paul wrote, "but in everything ... present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hears and minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).

Perspective. We need to focus on positive truths, especially on God's concern for us and His control of every circumstance. He is the Good Shepherd, who provides for our needs, guides us and protects us (Ps. 23).

We must also recognize God's ownership of what we have. He created all things and "loans" them to us to use for our need and His purposes. If these things don't belong to us, then we won't worry so much about what happens to them. When informed that his house had been destroyed by fire, John Wesley simply remarked, "God's house has burned down."

Past Provision. Struggling with present anxieties, we do well to reflect on God's past faithfulness. When I first met Laurie, she was devastated by her husband's infidelities and desertion during the seven years of their marriage. She agonized about the future. A key to defeating anxiety was the memory of God's sufficient provision for her through the years. He would not fail her now. "I will remember the deeds of the Lord," wrote the Psalmist (Ps. 77:11).

Proper Goals. Many of the treasures we strive to gain contain a high level of anxiety. These include approval, success and wealth. In competing for these prizes, we may win or lose. Hard-won gains are easily lost, however, and they frustrate us by not providing the fulfillment we seek.

Bill Gates has a net worth of $100 billion, yet even he acknowledges that success is easily lost. "In this [software] business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running all the time, you're gone."

Jesus taught us to seek goals which have eternal value: loving God, serving others and developing a godly character. Not only can these be attained without fear of competition or loss, but they also bring lasting fulfillment. Paul considered everything else garbage compared to the value of knowing Christ (Phil. 3:7-9).

Purpose. Worries about trivial matters occupy us when we have no greater concerns. Jesus said, "Do not worry about your life ... Seek first [God's] kingdom and righteousness" (Matt. 6:35, 33). Passion for God's purposes leave less room for anxiety.

Presence of God. Peace is the assurance that God is present no matter what the situation.

"Be still," His Word exhorts, "and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10). Even in "the valley of the shadow of death," we are secure for, as the Psalmist declares, "You are with me" (Ps. 23:4).

One day after school, my four year-old daughter made a game of thinking of ways to end the sentence, "God is there even when." She affirmed God's presence, "when I feel yucky ... when it's dark ... when I'm lost ... when there's a big monster." How true!

If we depend of circumstances and uncertain treasures, we will worry much. Instead, through practical actions, biblical living and the experience of God's presence, we gain increasing peace of mind.

__________

Stephen Lim, M.Div. and D.Min (Fuller Theological Seminary), serves as Academic Dean and Professor of Leadership and Ministry at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, MO. His article, "Why You Need A Savior," was selected by the Evangelical Press Association as the second best article on evangelism published in 2009. He is presently working on a book, "Transforming Believers into Growing Disciples."

Stephen Lim, "10 Keys to Managing Anxiety," originally appearing in War Cry (April 29, 2000), 14-15. Used with permission of the author.

Read other articles in the Spring 2011 issue of THE PNEUMA REVIEW www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp



From the Spring 2011 issue

Timothy Ward, Words of Life: Scripture As the Living and Active Word of God (IVP Academic, Downers Grove, 2009), 184 pages, ISBN 9781433501302.

This book is full of contemporary appreciation of the dynamic power of Scripture and invites a reappraisal by the reader of what we really think about the Bible. There are sections that will evoke a loud 'amen' from among Pentecostals and Charismatics, as when Ward insists that God always does what God's Word says (p 26ff.). There are also warnings, though, as when Ward identifies a tendency among some Charismatics to place the Scriptures in an apparently less valued place than ecstatic and spontaneous eruptions of revelation, such as in worship services. He also bewails the reduction of well researched and applied expository preaching and the increase of anecdotal surmise and impressions. He insists that we need to avoid the 'refusal by some to link God's ongoing dynamic action through the Spirit directly with the speech acts communicated by the words of Scripture' (p 158).

Timothy Ward, a Church of England vicar and an unashamed Calvinist, has produced this book on the back of his earlier thesis publication, where he examined an understanding God's Word as His 'speech act'. He successfully unwraps the implications of a properly Reformed doctrine of Scripture in the contemporary church. The result is excellent and most helpful to all who instinctively hold the Scripture in the highest regard yet sense, albeit unwittingly, the contemporary pull away from a high doctrine of Scripture in differing parts of the church today.

Ward's dealing with how the doctrine of sola Scriptura should be applied in the church in a manner faithful to the Magisterial Reformers is especially helpful and illumining. Ward emphasises that the Bible is not a talisman, and needs to be read in order to hear the Word of God released towards us today. We need to have a higher appreciation of it as the very words of God released to us. He points out that a doctrine of sola Scriptura properly roots the understanding of the Bible and the exercise of its authority within the Christian community, and contrasts this with a more individualistic use of the Scriptures, without reference to the Christian community's authority, as 'solo' Scriptura (p 154).

This is a serious and well researched piece of writing, written at the pastoral and applied level. Any preacher, who has been disturbed by the challenges of 'post-modernity' and 'post-foundationalism' and wonders what they are really meant to be doing with the Bible, would benefit from reading it.

Reviewed by Jim Purves

Preview this book: books.google.com/books?id=cmcvFiOBpncC

__________

Jim Purves, Ph.D. (University of Aberdeen, Scotland), B.D. (Hons) Christian Dogmatics (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), L.L.B. (Hons) Law (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), is pastor of Bristo Baptist Church, Edinburgh, and adjunct lecturer and research tutor at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, Czech Republic. He is the author of The Triune God and the Charismatic Movement (Paternoster, 2004). www.bristobaptist.org

Read more reviews and other articles in the Spring 2011 issue of THE PNEUMA REVIEW www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp


Prayer Requests

  • Somalia: Christian mother murdered for her faith. Compass Direct News Service reports that Asha Mberwa, 36, a mother of four, was killed for her Christian faith on 7th January 2011 on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia by Islamic extremists from al Shabaab militia. Asha's husband has fled to an unknown location and according to relatives a "good Samaritan" in Mogadishu is caring for her four children. Asha was arrested after Al Shabaab extremists monitored a conversation she had with a relative, confirming she was Christian.
    Al Shabaab insurgents, who control much of southern and central Somalia, seek to impose a strict version of Sharia (Islamic law) and have been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments.
    Prayer points: Pray for God's protection over Asha's four children and her husband, who have survived her. Pray for Asha's relatives in Mogadishu, whose lives are also under threat. Pray for the persecuted Christians in southern and central Somalia. Pray God to protect His people from the attacks of Al Shabaab extremists.
    Full story: compassdirect.org/english/country/somalia/31290
    Source: WEA Religious Liberty Prayer News, 1 February, 2011
  • Tajikistan: If enacted, draft law will make it illegal for children to participate in religious activities. "Local religious communities, independent legal experts and human rights defenders have condemned the draft Law, as violating the religious freedom of children and parents among other freedoms guaranteed by Tajikistan's Constitution and international human rights conventions."
    Full story: forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1552
    Source: F18News Summary: Tajikistan, 18 March, 2011
  • Ethiopia: 69 churches burned. Christians are urged to pray for displaced believers in western Ethiopia, where extremist Muslims have killed at least one person and burned 69 churches in anti-Christian violence.
    Full story: www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=34859

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