frndietz's Xanga

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:15:39 GMT

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Isaiah 9:6 ,7 "for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

I have noticed here in my own country that we are hearing "Merry Christmas" more than just happy holidays. What a joyous time this is for us all as we realize what it says in Galatians 4:4 "but when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law."

The pastor in of the local church in California that we attend (when we are here) has been speaking about what the situation was like when Christ came into this world. What a barbaric place and time it was when the Son of Man came!

I have been reading through Romans and have been rejoicing in this righteousness that has now come to us through faith in Christ. Like Paul, we too must be ready to preach the gospel, the good news, where-ever the Lord might be leading.

This past year has been a very busy one for my wife and I. It does seem that things are speeding up especially now that we are coming closer to the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This past year I've had meetings in Brazil, my wife and I have been twice in Europe, as well as I was twice in India. Also a special trip had to be taken to the Philippines where interesting things are developing.

I personally want to thank all of you for your prayers for Anneli and me as well as your financial giving to make it all possible. As we come to the end of 2007 I could not help but think of how seven is a number of completion and starting 2008 we are starting out in a whole new adventure.

Just in the first quarter of this new year Anneli and I will be in India, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. I will be making a trip the end of March and the beginning of April to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Later on in the year Anneli and I will be back in Europe and there's a possibility of a trip to Nepal. So you can see that things are moving quite fast.

This will be my last weekly letter for this year and will not put out another one until the last week of January 2008. I have enjoyed writing these letters and have received much encouragement from many of you regarding them. However, they do take time and with all the traveling for ministry and all the other things that are entailed with researching and writing these weeklies does take their toll.

It would be good to hear from you regarding these weekly letters. I put my weekly letter onto my blog (www.xanga.com/frndietz) where you can write a comment. I am always interested in knowing what you are thinking, etc.

Some of you have inquired about supporting us financially and at the end of this letter you can send in donations in my name in one of our OM offices listed below.

Anneli and I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you

A very, very Merry Christmas.
Jesus is coming soon!

Every blessing,

Frank and Anneli Dietz

Friday, December 14, 2007

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:34:55 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #50
THE REAL THREAT

Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad said: “The transformation of Britain into an Islamic state could come in two ways: if an Islamic state arises and invades, we will be its army and its soldiers from within. But if no such Islamic state arises Bakri said that Muslims would convert the West to Islam through ideological invasion without war and killing.”

We will "convert the West to Islam through ideological invasion without war and killing," is exactly what is happening in the West today. As one Muslim cleric said: "We do not need an army with swords, but an army of Islamic preachers."

Sheikh Abu Hamza Al-Masri said; “Allah is the only one that must be worshiped on earth, and the only way to guarantee this is to control all the land masses, air, and sea and get Islam the proper channel to be heard by the people.” In other words this is why Muslims must fight so that Islam can be heard by all the people.

Robert Spencer in his book Religion of Peace says: “Maududi, who is called one of the greatest revivalist of Islam in the 20th century said: ‘the truth is that Islam is not the name of a religion, nor is Muslim the title of the nation. In reality Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals. Muslim is the title of that international Revolutionary party organized by Islam to carry into effect its revolutionary program. And Jihad refers to that revolutionary struggle and utmost exertion which the Islamic party brings into play to achieve this objective.' "

He goes on to say: "Islam requires that the earth – not just the portion, but the whole planet – not because the sovereignty over the earth should be wrested from one nation or several nations invested in one particular nation, but because the entire mankind should benefit from Islam which is the program of well-being for all humanity."

In their way of thinking any orders or commands that come from man is tantamount to man sharing in the powers and the authority of God. This, according to the Islamist, is the root of all evil in the universe.

This is interesting because we see a worldview that has been developed here. A worldview is how we screen everything that comes our way and the way we will respond to the world around us. A worldview must answer three questions.

First, where did we get the universe, complexity, etc? The Islamist would come and say God created it all and they would be right.
The second question they must answer is: why are we in such a mess? And according to what has just been said above is that in their way of thinking any orders or commands that come from man are tantamount to man sharing in the powers in the authority of God which to them is the root of all evil in the universe. In other words this is why we are in such a mess.
The third question would be is: what is the solution? This has already been answered that in what has been written above that Islam must take over every aspect of life here on planet Earth and sharia law instigated.

A biblical worldview answers these three questions by the following:

First, there is a God who has created all things and man has been made in His likeness and His image.
Secondly, the reason man as well as the world is in a mess is because we have 'suppressed the truth'. We have gone our own way and done our own thing.
Thirdly, the solution is that God has given us His law and order that we might recognize what sin is and that we all have sinned and have come under the judgment of God. However, because God loved us and in order to fulfill His justice and His mercy took upon Himself the form of a man (we know Him as Jesus), lived among us, and tasted death for all men that we through Him (Jesus) might live.

Those who advocate a moral equivalency between Islam and Christianity need to have a closer look at the difference in worldviews. How we think is how we respond to the world around us.

Frank Dietz
Minister at Large
Operation Mobilization

Friday, December 07, 2007

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:19:02 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #48
MORAL EQUIVALENCY:RIGHT OR WRONG?

We all have heard about the English schoolteacher who was incarcerated in the Sudan because she allowed the students to name a teddy bear Mohammad. Who’ll forget the scenes of violent mobs in Khartoum wielding their machetes and shouting “kill her, kill her.”

When it comes to Islam and Christianity, those here in the West who bring out the argument of moral equivalency, I wonder what they say about this incident? How many demonstrations have we seen in the West because of the defamation of Christ or the name of Jesus? Often the only time the name of Christ is used is when it is a ‘swear word’.

Often we hear supporters of moral equivalency saying that "yes the Muslims want to impose sharia law upon their own societies, but, they say, are the Christians any different?" Some would even go as far to say that when the Taliban advocate stoning and beheadings the Christians would do the same if they had the opportunity. The moral equivalency supporters would say that the Jihadist, or the Taliban, and the fundamentalist Christians are two sides of the same coin. How ingenious!

Chris Hedges declared “the Christian right and radical Islamist, although locked in a holy war, increasingly mirror each other. They share the same obsessions. They do not tolerate other forms of belief or disbelief. They are at war with artistic and cultural expression. They seek to silence the media. They call for the subjugation of women. They promote severe sexual repression, and they seek to express themselves through violence.”

As Robert Spencer brings out in his book 'Religion of Peace': As television personality Rosie O’Donnell put it in September 2006: “radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.” To this the British columnist David Thompson – no fundamentalist Christian – replied acidly: “but while red-faced evangelist may say, for instance, that gay people are wicked, damned to Hell fire, etc., I do not know of any internationally renowned Christian leaders who are calling for the imprisonment and killing of gay people. Unlike the supposedly moderate grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who insist that gay men and lesbians should be killed in the worst manner possible. Not condemned, corrected, prayed for, or pitied, or any of the usual nonsense spouted by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson etc.; but murdered – as brutally as possible.”

The idea that Christianity has as much to apologize for as the Muslim extremists is not true. No matter how hard the supporters of moral equivalency try to bring up the idea that there is no difference, we find that the facts speak and tell a different story. We, as God’s people, need to be able to defend what Christianity is all about and so defeat the arguments of moral equivalency.

In true Christianity we do not show hate, but love. We are to love our Muslim friends. My wife is constantly making contact with the Muslim women in our area and seeing how she can help them cope with the difficulties and problems of living here in the West and not really understanding the language or our laws. We need to reach out to them in love where-ever they are.

We read in Acts 17:2 “as his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.”

So, we (the church) must be able to explain and reason with our Muslim friends who Christ really is. With the supporters of the moral equivalency here in the West we need to be able to explain and prove that Christianity and Islam are not at all the same.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:39:18 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #47

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?

Ex 33:16 “ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Some years ago the wife of the leader of Operation Mobilization in Spain was walking down the streets of Barcelona. A young Moroccan boy accidentally bumped into her. Instead of apologizing he turned around, looked at her and said: "we are going to take over your country." Where did he hear this and what does it mean?

We see in Europe as well as here in the States how Muslims are demanding their rights and using our laws and our system to obtain what they want. We find that in our "political correctness" people are claiming that there is no difference between Islam and Christianity. Is this true?

We point to the Jihadists and terrorism that is taking place and we say: "Yes, there is a difference". However, we find that they come back and say: "Look at your own Bible and especially the book of Joshua where Joshua was commanded to go into the land of Canaan and to wipe out every man woman and child and even in some places the livestock. Not to leave anything breathing. So what is the difference between Christianity and Islam”?

These are some of the questions that are coming up here in the West that we need to be able to have an answer for. Robert Spencer in his book RELIGION OF PEACE said: “It is a common assumption among many left – liberals in the West that Christian and Muslim extremist, radicals, or fundamentalists are two sides of the same coin.” Rosie O’Donnell put it in September 2006: “radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.”

Pope Benedict XV1 said that "God must act within reason and to spread religion or belief through acts of violence goes against the nature of God or is something unreasonable." This was a speech that he gave in Germany in a place called Regenberg that caused such a ruckus throughout the Islamic world.

Muslim teaching is that God is transcendent. This means that he is not restricted by any of our categories, laws etc. in other words God transcends all these things. We Christians say that there are natural laws and God acts within these laws. In other words God acts rationally not irrationally. This was the brunt of Pope Benedict's speech that set off riots throughout the Islamic world.

Many people in the West, even including government leaders, believe that Islam has been hijacked by extreme Islamic Jihadists and that basically Islam is a peaceful religion. They go on to say that the reason we have the Jihadists today is because of the underprivileged and the poverty and if we can overcome these we will then defeat the Jihadists mentality. What we forget is that this has nothing to do with poverty etc., but it is a war by the Jihadists against 'the infidels' - people who are not Muslims.

'Moral equivalence' is the argument that modern liberalism is making here in the West. Is this right? Is there no difference between Christianity and Islam? Is there no difference between Osama bin Laden and Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell (who is now gone on to be with the Lord)? These are things that we need to look at and arrive at an answer.

I was speaking in a Bible school in Finland and during a question-and-answer session one student asked: "what is America doing in Iraq. It is oil isn't it?" Again it is like what Robert Spencer says in his book RELIGION OF PEACE: " Many Westerners think far worse of their own civilization than they do of Islam. They believe that the war on terror is an American imperialistic power grab for Middle Eastern oil, or that it is motivated by evangelical Christians who want a crusade against the Islamic world.” My answer to that question was, why didn't we stay in Kuwait when we were there, because we would have had all the oil that we needed. No, the war on terror is more, it is a clash of civilizations, ideologies and we need to be prepared.

For those who say that there is no difference between Islam and Christianity, who take 'the moral equivalence' argument I would say this. Why is there - in the Muslim world - no anti-bin Laden - anti-Al Qaeda - or anti-Jihad movement of any significance? Instead we find rioting taking place over Danish cartoons; a speech given by the Pope on why is it impossible to sit down and have a reasonable, rational dialogue? Do we find rioting taking place among what we call the 'Christian West' over any insults to our religion or our beliefs? Do we find Christian leaders giving out death threats to those who have offended our beliefs? The answer is an emphatic "NO".

We shall know the truth and the truth will set us free.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:00:58 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #46

YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH

John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

In America we celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November what we call Thanksgiving day. This for us is a very important day because this is the day that the Pilgrims who came to America for religious freedom gave thanks not to the Indians who helped them (although this is what some of our historians now teach), but to God Almighty for his abundance.

The problem that we face today is really the problem of ‘political correctness’. Revisionist historians are rewriting history and very deliberately taking out anything that has to do with Christianity. Thanksgiving day for us here in America is one such example.

Rush Limbaugh in his book I TOLD YOU SO wrote: “On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including 40 pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of their new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower compact come from? From the Bible. The pilgrims were people completely steeped in the lessons of the old and new Testaments. They look to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedence set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work.”

He goes on to say that this was not a pleasure cruise but one of great sacrifice. It was a sacrifice for freedom. The pilgrims had made an agreement with merchants back in London that they would put everything into a common store where people than could take out what they needed. Long before Karl Marx socialism was being tried and found wanting.

The early pilgrims soon discovered that it did not work and Bradford took a bold step and he allotted to each person a plot of land that they could cultivate and use what they produced not only to feed themselves but for trade with the Indians and also to payoff any debts that they had back in the old country. It was through this that they found a great abundance and they were offering thanks to an Almighty God. What is interesting is that the historians are leaving out the impact that the Bible made in the thoughts and minds of these pilgrims.

Another inconvenient truth or untruth that is being carried out today is regarding Christianity and Islam that somehow these two religions are equivalent. The critics of Christianity here in the West often go back to the Old Testament and especially the book of Joshua and say there is no difference between what Joshua did in conquering the promised land and what Muslims are doing.

They also equate things like slavery where Paul admonishes in Ephesians the slaves to obey their masters which according to them seems to condone slavery and also what Muslims are doing today. So what's the difference?

Then of course the Crusades come into play when we talk about the Muslim Jihadist they come back and say what about the Crusades? We do not have time to go into all of this in this letter but these are some of the things that we must look and think through and recognize that there is a difference. There is no equivalence between Christianity taught by Jesus and Islam taught by Mohammed and those of us here in the West must see the difference.

In the next few e-mails for this year I would like to take some of the subject one by one and look at them critically and see that there is a difference. Yes, the church has committed atrocities and no one group has a claim on evil, but we do need to see that there is a difference between the teachings of Christ and the teachings of Mohammed.

Frank Dietz
Minister at large
Operation Mobilization

Friday, November 16, 2007

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:57:10 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #45

SHAKING THE NATIONS

Hebrews:12:26 "At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."

Finland, where my wife and I have been ministering for the previous three weeks, was rocked last week when an 18 year old boy walked into his school and shot 8 people and then killed himself. Flags flew at half mast throughout this country of five million people. Many if not all wondered how something like this could happen and of course trying to answer the proverbial questions: what went wrong? And how can we fix it?

Looking at the news and listening to different opinions we found that there were as many different opinions as people as well as solutions. In my last weekly letter I mentioned how here in the West we seem to be in the stage between complacency and apathy. With this in mind there seems to be a breakdown or a disconnect in the family. This disconnect can only be described as a spirit of apathy or just plain indifference. Our young people are separated from any meaningful discourse with parents as they escape into their virtual world of reality. When they are on the internet - what are they watching? I am sure that many parents would not know.

However, there is something else happening here in the West and that is a crumbling of a worldview.

If a worldview does not answer certain questions about the reality of life - 'where we come from? what are we here for? why we are in the mess that we are in? and what is the solution?' then that worldview is not going to meet the needs. This is what is happening here in the West.

The post-modern, humanistic worldview based on Darwinism where we are nothing more than animals is not meeting the needs of our youth and now they are acting out the end results of this worldview. Why not kill if we are nothing more than animals? Why not take our own life if all there is in this world has been nothing but pain and loneliness?

This is the collapsing of a worldview. But what are they going to replace it with? This is the real question and this is where the church comes in.

The only worldview that will meet the needs of our young and answer the questions of life is the Biblical worldview. It is interesting to see that in the first three chapter of Genesis we see these questions posed above being answered. God created this world, this universe and He also created me. The reason we are in this mess is because of sin - man going his own way and the solution was laid down in Genesis 3:15 when God spoke to the serpent and said that a child would be born from a woman that would eventually destroy him. We of course know that in the fullness of time Christ came into the world to take away the sin of the world. We now have the solution to the mess the world is in.

This truth is a deposit for the church and the church is responsible to protect and project this truth throughout the world.

However, another thing that we do not want to face here in the West because of our ‘political correctness’ is the whole idea of evil. We have learned that this 18-year-old who walked into the school and killed eight people was a worshiper of Stalin and Neo-Nazism. If this is not evil then I would like to know what evil is? With Stalinism and Neo-Nazism we have ideologies that have resulted in the deaths of millions and millions of people.

The church, not just in America, but throughout Europe and the world must wake up to the reality of what we are faced with. Satan knows that his time is short and he is going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Praise God that we have the victory in Christ. Let us remember Romans 16:20 "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet."

Friday, November 16, 2007

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:56:08 GMT

Friday, October 05, 2007

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:09:35 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #39
APATHY

Last week I wrote about the 'bugs' within our culture and highlighted one of these bugs - apathy. As I mentioned before that if the opposite spirit of apathy is passion then what we need to see more in the Christian life is passion. However, it seems that this spirit of apathy has come over our Western culture.

In my last e-mail letter I also mentioned the terms of discipleship and what it means to follow Christ. One of the terms laid down by the Lord is in Luke14:33 "he who does not forsake all that he hath cannot be my disciple." One of the readers of the weekly letter wrote to me (I am glad to see that people are reading these weeklies) and expressed some doubts about whether or not we can really put something like this into practice today.

This person raised very good questions on how do we take Jesus' teaching on forsaking all literally and carry it out in every day situations that we live here in our Western culture: cars we drive, computers we work on, house we live in, clothes we wear, etc.? What about people who help support those on the mission field? If these supporters forsake everything then how can they help? These are all very good questions and they deserve an answer.

I want to use this weekly e-mail to respond to these questions, because, it would seem to me that the reason for apathy in our culture today is the result of not taking Jesus literally in what He says. The common denominator in this thing of apathy versus passion is what I call faith. Do we really believe what God says?

However, we need to let Scripture interpret Scripture. When we meet God in Luke 14:33 we find that God will meet us in Philippians 4:19: "and my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." What's in between these two is faith . Perhaps it is because of little faith that we find the spirit of apathy gaining ground in our culture as well as in our individual lives.

Do we really need God, especially here in our Western culture? I think of an Asian brother who came to visit America and upon leaving made the comment that he was amazed at what the American church could do without the Holy Spirit. Does he have a point? Do we really believe God? Do we believe what God has said? I think these are questions that we need to ask ourselves and come to grips with.

How does the spirit of apathy come into our culture and our society? The definition of apathy is: devoid of feelings or a privation of passion, emotion or excitement. It also means insensibility or just plain old indifference.

When we see God meeting our needs, answering our prayers and as we are learning to live more in His presence, doesn't this bring a greater passion within us for the things of God? I think so.

But in our Western culture it would seem that we do not really need God . For example: what happened to the prayer meeting? Could it be that along with the spirit of apathy that has invaded our Western culture (one of the "bugs within in our software" in our moral character here in the West) has come a humanistic worldview that we can do things ourselves and that we really do not need God? Even with our governments we see that they want to take care of our every need from the cradle to the grave. Where is God in this?

One of the 'signs' that I see pointing to this spirit of apathy seems to be the following: whenever God calls us to do something we come up with the excuse that we do not have what it takes to accomplish the task. This is always Satan's ploy that whenever God calls His people to do something Satan will be there to show us that we cannot do it because we do not have what it takes to do it.

In John chapter 6 feeding the 5000 Jesus asked Philip the question: "where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" We read on that Jesus asked this question only to test Philip because he knew what He would do. In other words Jesus already had a plan. What was Philip's response? "Eight months wages would not be enough bread for each one to have a bite!". In other words he was bringing out how they could not feed the multitudes because they did not have what it would take - eight months' wages. Yet Jesus took what was available (which was His plan - five small barley loaves and two small fish) and fed the multitude with 12 baskets left over.

It would seem to me that a spirit of apathy came upon the disciples who were following Jesus. It was seen by the response that they gave when Jesus asked the question: how shall we feed the multitude? Where was the excitement and passion that God can do something supernatural? Instead we find something of a spirit of apathy, an indifference to the situation. "We cannot do this because we do not have what it takes." Could this be why Jesus denounced His disciples six times in the gospels by saying: "O! you of little faith?" It would seem that apathy and faith cannot coincide together.

"Lord, help me overcome my unbelief!" Mk 9:24
"Increase our faith!" Luke 17:5

MIGHT THIS BE OUR PRAYER

Friday, September 28, 2007

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:52:04 GMT

SPIRIT OF APATHY

Eccl. 12:8 "Meaningless, meaningless says the Teacher, everything is meaningless."

Last week I spoke about "bugs within" in the software regarding the moral character of the West. One of the bugs that I had mentioned was what I call the 'spirit of apathy'. If we look 'apathy' up in the dictionary we see that the definition of apathy is 'devoid of feelings or a privation of passion, emotion or excitement'. It also means 'insensibility' or just plain old 'indifference'.

However, when we read the New Testament we see the terms of discipleship. We see that true Christianity is an all out commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing less than unconditional surrender could ever be a fitting response to His sacrifice at Calvary. Yet we find in the church just the opposite.

When we reads the Gospels we see several things coming out.

1. A supreme love for Jesus Christ. Luke 14:26 "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple". Self-love is one of the stubbornest hindrances to discipleship..

2. Denial of self. Matthew 16:24 "if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross." Denial of self is not the same as self denial. Henry Martin said: "Lord, let me have no will of my own, or consider my true happiness as depending in the smallest degree of anything that can befall the outwardly, but as consisting altogether in conformity to thy will."

3. A deliberate choosing of the cross. Matthew 16:24 "if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross."

4. A life spent in following Christ. Matthew 16:24 "if anyone desires to come after me and let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." To understand what this means, one needs to simply ask himself, "what characterized the life of the Lord Jesus Christ?"

5. A fervent love for all who belong to Christ. John 13:35 "by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

6. An unswerving continuance in His Word. John 8:31 "if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed." For real discipleship there must be continuance. It is easy enough to start well, to burst forth in a blaze of glory. But the test of reality is endurance to the end.

7. A forsaking all to follow him. Luke 14:33 "so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple." This is perhaps the most unpopular of all Christ terms of discipleship, and may well prove to be the most unpopular verse in the Bible.

Did not Jesus say: Matthew 6:19 -- 20 "do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."

As John Wesley justly said, "to lay up treasure on earth is as plainly forbidden by our Master as adultery and murder." Did not Jesus say in Luke 12:33: "sell what you have and give alms." ? Did He not instruct the rich young ruler, "sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me?" Luke 18:22 if He did not mean exactly what He said, what then did He mean?

Was is it not true of the believers in the early church that they "sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need?" Acts 2:45 and has it not been true of many of God saints down through the years that they literally forsook all to follow Jesus?

My wife and I spend time in India every year working with village pastors. I cannot help but think of the words of Mahatma Gandhi when he spoke to the great Methodist missionary Dr.Stanley Jones and said: "if you can show me a Christian living like Jesus I too will become a Christian."

When we begin to ask these questions we see how the spirit of apathy has to a great degree descended upon the church here in the West. How we need Reformation, because Reformation will bring us back to the simple truths of the Word of God and, I believe, a passion for the things of God.

Amy Carmichael wrote a little tract called "My Brother's Blood Crieth". In that she said: "God forgive us! God arouse us! Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!"

The opposite of the spirit of apathy, to me, is passion. Where in the church today, especially in the West, do we find passion for the things of Christ? Do we have a passion to really know God? Do we have a passion for things above instead for things here on earth? Do we have a passion or a great hunger for the Word of God? Do we have a passion to see the kingdom of God extending here on earth?

Frank Dietz

Friday, September 21, 2007

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:03:02 GMT

WEEKLY LETTER #37
THE BUGS WITHIN

Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."

Whether we like it or not there is a war with terrorism going on. It is a different type of war, not like WW 1 or WW 2. In these wars the lines were drawn out. You knew who you were fighting and where the enemy was. The war on terrorism is a different type of war. It is more ideological, perhaps than physical, but the none the less as deadly, if not even more so.

Can the West win in this type of war? This is what a lot of pundits are asking, especially now that we are coming into our presidential race here in the States. Many are divided over this question. Some are saying 'yes' whereas a growing number are saying 'no' and, of course, many are undecided.

I am often amused when I see so many commentators coming and offering their advice as if they really knew what to do. Whenever I hear these people on the news I ask myself the question: what are they basing their musings on? When I hear them say we are winning or losing I ask myself the question: what perspective are they coming from? We cannot go back to previous wars and base our speculation on whether we are winning or losing in this war on terrorism? Why? Because we have never fought a war like we are now fighting. This is new ground and I do not think we can learn from previous wars on what to do with this one. Most people in the West do not even believe that we are in a war.

However, there are some assumptions that we can make. With the hardware (weaponry) there is no way terrorism can defeat the West. But when it comes to the software it is a different story. There are some 'bugs within' that can bring down Western civilization as we know it.

When I think of the Islamists (these are the ones who want to live by Sharia law) perhaps they do have more passion than some of the ideologues or totalitarians that we faced in the past - Fascism, Nazism, Communism. Can we in the West fight against this type of passion that we see displayed where there is a great celebration of death rather than life? I am not sure at the moment, because of potential 'bugs' in our software here in the West. What are they? APATHY, SELFISHNESS and COMPLACENCY, these are the bugs within.

When I mention these three words I am not thinking so much of the physical war that is now taking place, but the spiritual battle that is being waged in the heavenlies. We, as God's people, must realize that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.

When I mention apathy I am referring to God's people who are so caught up in the things of this world that they do not comprehend the spiritual battle taking place. Soon my wife and I will be in Europe for a series of meetings. What is reigning over Europe and the USA is the spirit of apathy. We just don't seem to care what is happening around us.

Along with apathy there is selfishness. We see this coming out in many ways that will be detrimental to the demise of Western Civilization. Here in the West along with our prosperity comes a desire to cater to self and the rest be damned. Strong words, but this seems to be what our actions dictate.

The other bug within is complacency. To a great degree we do not care as long as it does not affect us. Once it does affect me then I begin to care, but then it might be too late. In some ways we are like the frog put into the pot of water and does not realize the water is getting hotter until it is too late. Along with complacency is appeasement.

Several years ago my wife and I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. I will never forget the poem by Niemöller: "In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left."

Jesus said: 'My food', said Jesus, 'is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work'.Jhn.4:34. We as God's people must realize that we have a work to do. God is doing great things all over the world. We are seeing many coming to Christ is Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is in Europe and the USA where we need to see the Lord bring about reformation. Might the words of Jesus to His disciples be true of us as well: 'My food', said Jesus, 'is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work'.