Posted: 12/05/06

Evangelicals told blogs best
way to shape public opinion

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Evangelical leaders shouldn’t fear expressing their beliefs in the blogosphere or be afraid of a potential Mormon president, conservative law professor and radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt recently told a group of evangelical theologians.

Hewitt, speaking in Washington after a midterm congressional election that swept many religious conservatives from power, said the next year will have “enormous significance” when it comes to faith and politics.

Hewitt teaches at the Chapman University School of Law in California and is a weekly columnist for conservative publications The Daily Standard and World.

Theology will have an essential role in politics for the next election, because Americans are very concerned about their spiritual beliefs, he asserted.

“Partisan positions should not be taken from the pulpit because that is the law of the land,” Hewitt said.

“However, you are an American citizen, and you have the right of expression of any political views you want. That’s an important distinction, and one that we should work to communicate to the pastors and the clergy and the parachurch organizations in the United States.”

One of the quickest and most effective ways to exert influence is through blogs, Hewitt said during the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, an association of religion professors. He told the theologians that each of them should be involved with a blog in some way.

Indeed, blogs have created a powerful new forum for anyone interested in expressing an opinion. In 1999, less than 20 blogs existed, Hewitt said. Now, there are more than 60 million.

Hewitt’s website, www.hughhewitt.com, received more than 300,000 unique visitors on election day alone, he said. He credits such interest to readers’ trust that he will provide truthful commentary on politics. And in his opinion, professors, pastors and theologians have the same potential to influence voters.

“You can be as active and engaged in civic society as you care to be, because all you need is a modem and a computer,” he said. “No part of the world will soon be closed to your corners of reason and of faith.”

Blogs are integral to evangelicalism also because they provide a forum to defend against what Hewitt called “America’s secular absolutists.” The absolutists are led by the “gang of 500,” a term coined in 2002 by an ABC news director to describe the key group of insiders and journalists who influence decision-making in mainstream media outlets.

Those opinion leaders are “not only left and liberal, but overwhelmingly secular” and make it their goal to attack conservative Christians, Hewitt claimed. Then, when a conservative public figure, like actor/director Mel Gibson, “stumbles,” he said, the vilification is complete.

“The cruelty that meets that effort is often quite amazing,” Hewitt said. “Some way, however, we have continued to hang in there and to make progress. The reason (conservative religious people) are winning is because it’s unconstitutional to drive us from the public square.”

Hewitt is currently writing a book about Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints and prominent potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Hewitt believes evangelicals have the potential to help or hurt themselves in how they react to the possibility of a Mormon in the White House.

As a result of Romney’s potential, Hewitt noted, journalists inevitably will begin asking evangelical professors and pastors for their take on a potential Mormon in the White House.

He cautioned against disparaging or inappropriate comments about Romney’s faith. Every theological or philosophical argument evangelicals use against a Mormon candidate or Mormon theology eventually will be used against evangelicals, he said.

“Many in this room in the next year to year-and-a-half will be asked by students and the media, ‘What do you think about Mitt Romney?’“ he said, adding that once “secular absolutists” get them to talk about theology, they open themselves to attack.

“If we begin to ask Mitt Romney about which (Morman) practices and doctrines he subscribes to, it cannot be capped. It will not be stopped.”

Most people have three main objections to Romney’s presence, should he win the election, Hewitt asserted: that Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City will control the White House, that a Mormon president will energize Mormon missionaries around the globe, and that it’s “irrational” to be a Mormon.

All three concerns, Hewitt said, are unfounded. And if people see evangelicals bashing Mormons for their unique beliefs, the thinking goes, secular leaders will turn their own argument against evangelicals seeking the presidency.

“They do not want us in politics and in the public square because they believe us widely to be irrational,” he said. “It would be tragic to me that in the course of rushing off to do battle with Mormon theology, you attract our common opponent,” the secular absolutists.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

RIGHT or WRONG?
Forgiveness vs accountability

In many sermons, two terms—accountability and forgiveness—are mentioned as if they are separate Christian virtues. Am I missing the point in thinking they are two sides of the same coin?

Your question is complex, and you have not missed the point, but the answer lies somewhere between the two extremes. Accountability and forgiveness are not completely separate Christian virtues, but neither are they exactly two sides of the same coin. Their relationship is complicated.

Accountability concerns the recognition of the wrongs done in life, including both things we have done and things that have been done to us. Accountability requires that those wrongs not be ignored, as well as an acceptance that damage has occurred because of them. We personally are accountable to others when we have wronged them, and we are accountable to God for the commission of wrongs to him and his people. We also are justified in holding others accountable for wrongs committed against us. This accountability is not vindictive. It’s an honest appraisal of the actions and consequences of the wrongdoing.

The easiest illustration of accountability is the judicial system, in which a person is charged with a wrongful act. An honest appraisal is made of the facts in order to determine the damage and severity of the wrong. We usually call this a judgment.

Forgiveness is the sentencing after that judgment. Forgiveness does not deny the wrong or the damage done. But it chooses not to exact revenge or payment for that wrong. In fact, forgiveness cannot truly occur without accountability, for without the acknowledgement of the wrongdoing, there is nothing to forgive.

These concepts are most readily identifiable in the understanding of salvation itself. We all have done wrong, or sinned, and thus stand in opposition to the will of God. God has not ignored that sin. Our sinfulness is a source of great grief to God, and he holds us accountable for it. The facts are established, and we are found guilty.

Instead of continually punishing us for those sins, however, God has chosen to forgive us of our sins. This does not make good sense to us, but it is God’s way. In the seventh chapter of the New Testament book of Romans, the Apostle Paul struggles with this concept. He finds that in everything he does, he does wrong. He continually violates the will of God, doing the things he should not do, and not doing the things he should. Accounta-bility is found in verse 24 as he laments what a wretched man he is. That is an honest appraisal of his guilt. Forgiveness is found in verse 25, as he rejoices that God saves him from that sin instead of punishing him for it.

Most of us are quick to accept responsibility for our actions as long as we know forgiveness will be the result—if we will get “off the hook.” True accountability does not see forgiveness in that light. Accountability deals frankly with the severity of the wrong and is immensely grateful for the forgiveness.

These concepts are not just between God and us. In our prayers to be forgiven as we have forgiven others, we acknowledge that we, too, have a responsibility to accurately acknowledge the wrongs others have done to us but to forgive them.

Accountability and forgiveness are integrally joined and provide evidence of a commitment to doing things God’s way. This relationship is one we gratefully accept from God and offer to those around us.

Van Christian, pastor

First Baptist Church

Comanche

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Ipdated: 12/01/06

UMHB students challenged to see missions up close

By Jennifer Sicking

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—As Holley Greeson stood in the middle of a crowd of University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students seated on the floor eating chicken curry and rice with their right hands, she spoke about the culture of India—and issued an invitation.

“We hope you’ll come to visit us,” she said.

That was part of the goal for Greeson and her husband, Kevin, during Mission Emphasis Week at UMHB. The Greesons have spent 13 years in South Asia—India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In part, they returned to their alma mater to visit their son, Dennis, who is a freshman at UMHB. But a greater purpose, Kevin Greeson said, was to bring missions into sharper focus for students.

“Out of sight, out of mind,” he said. “Our job is to make sure people are aware of the need and how they can be a part of it.”

With variety of positions and assignments,opportunities abound in the mission field, Greeson said.

“There are jobs out there,” he said. “We’re here to make sure people are aware of opportunities.”

Some of the largest church plants in the world are taking place in South Asia, Greeson said.

“Muslims by the thousands are coming to Christ,” he said. “Hindus—they’re already up to 1 million in one tribe. The way I like to describe it is explosive.”

It thrills him to be a part of leading a person to Christ, but he acknowledged it can get better.

“It’s more of a thrill when that person leads another person to Christ,” he said. “It’s the ultimate thrill when you lead a person to Christ who leads another person who starts a church that starts another church.”

Greeson wants students to know it is possible, and missionaries see it happen. To that end, he has written a book, Camel Training Manual, about how thousands of Muslims are coming to know Christ, available at www.churchplantingmovements.com.

Throughout the Missions Emphasis Week, 32 missionaries interacted with students at meals, spoke in classes and held seminars. Each year, students plan the week-long event, organizing everything from inviting missionaries to scheduling classes for them to attend and places for them to stay.

Shawn Shannon, Baptist Student Ministry director, said there are several goals for the week, which started in 1999.

“One is to awake the campus community to the reality that whoever they really are and what it is they love to do can be used by Jesus to touch the world,” she said. “Sub-goals are that even by this summer, we see some of these step out of culture because of how they love God and people.”

Craig Kendrick, a missionary to West Africans in Paris, said college students often are fearless in sharing the gospel.

Five hundred thousand West Africans live in Paris, Kendrick said, and the largest group is the Soninke, which number about 200,000. Of those, 0.007 percent are evangelical Christians—less than 100 in 1.7 million.

“They’re an unreached people group who have never heard the gospel message,” he said.

One way they have begun taking the gospel to the Soninke and other West Africans is through the Jesus movie. In Paris, they met a member of the Campus Crusade staff who told them he had 8,000 copies of the movie in the main West African languages that he couldn’t distribute. Kendrick told him about their work and accepted the videos to use.

The people, Kendrick said, are very open to Americans, and the movies are useful because many West Africans are illiterate.

Their prayer is to find 12 Soninke men who will attach themselves to Jesus, Kendrick said. So far, he said, God has given them five out of 50,000 to whom they have reached out. When Muslims begin to follow Christ, they can lose their family and cultural identities, and their jobs.

“It’s the first time they have heard of the love of God,” Kendrick said.

He hopes students will come to participate in sharing the gospel.

“God’s got every nation coming to Paris,” he said. “He’s got a work there.”

Erin Rigsby, a 2000 UMHB nursing school graduate, had a goal in returning to her alma mater.

“God changed my life at UMHB,” said Rigsby, now a missionary in Jos, Nigeria. “He made it clear I needed to learn to love people who are different from me. That led to my desire to serve overseas.”

Rigsby hopes to encourage other students “to learn to love those that are unloveable and to learn to embrace the differences in others.”

“I learned while I was here that I was surrounded by people just like me,” she said. “I was comfortable and unchallenged.”

That has changed during the past two and a half years with her ministry in Nigeria, where she works as a nurse caring for orphans and former street children.

Even with its challenges, it’s a life she has embraced.

“I had a plan for my life. My plan pales in comparison to what God has done,” she said.

“I love my life. I can’t wait to get back.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Updated: 12/01/06

Steppin' Out involves Baylor volunteers in service

WACO—A record number of students and community organizations participated in Steppin’ Out, Baylor University’s biannual service day.  Three thousand students and 80 student and community organizations worked together to serve in various locations throughout the Waco area.

Steppin’ Out’s mission is to enhance student involvement in community service. Its goal is to create community awareness, interaction and collaboration between Baylor and the surrounding community.

Baylor University students painting a house as part of the Steppin’Out community service day are (top) Corey Fleeman of Hurst, (below) Sally Neeley of Mineola and (left) Jenny Lee of Fort Worth.

“Service is a lifestyle, and our hope is that students walk away from Steppin’ Out with a desire to continue to serve the community,” said Andrew Ginakis, a steering committee member for the service day.

Participants painted houses, planted gardens, cleaned creeks and worked with various Waco agencies, such as CARITAS food pantry, Compassion Ministries, Waco Center for Youth, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Piper Child Development Center and the Waco Family Abuse Center.

Kappa Chi Alpha Christian social/service sorority combined with Phi Kappa Chi and Delta Delta Delta to paint a Waco resident’s home, as well as to clean up her yard.

“We trimmed trees, tore down dog houses, raked leaves, pulled weeds, swept the deck and picked up trash,” said Kaley Eggers, Kappa Chi Alpha service chair.  “It was a lot of work, but we really enjoyed doing it.

“Our resident’s name was Jan, and I talked to her a bit beforehand, and she said she couldn’t imagine having so many people helping her.”

Following the service project, Baylor students and community members gathered for a celebration on the Baylor campus, where they ate a free catered meal and played games.

“We are very grateful for the work provided to us by this great group of students,” said a representative from one of the community organizations served.

Steppin’ Out is one of the largest community service projects on American college campuses and is nationally recognized for its commitment to service.

“As students at Baylor University, we have been blessed with so much; taking one afternoon to help someone in need is one of the many ways we can use the gifts we’ve been given,” Eggers said.  “Mark Twain once said, ‘The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.’

“I agree so greatly with that statement. Serving someone by doing something as simple as raking leaves brings joy not only to them, but to the server as well.  Steppin’ Out presents a great opportunity for Baylor students to share Christ’s love with others, and it is well worth it.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Updated: 12/01/06

Boomers, Busters see sex differently

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

VENTURA, Calif. (ABP)—If a recent survey is correct, there is a bigger generation gap between Baby Boomers and Baby Busters than most people care to admit, especially when it comes to opinions about sex.

Recent research by the Barna Group reveals Busters—people born between 1965 and 1983—differ significantly from older Americans in their opinions of extramarital sex, pornography, homosexuality and sexual fantasies.

More than two-thirds of the Busters believe adults living together before marriage is morally acceptable. Most young adults also said pornography and sex outside of marriage are not morally wrong. Only one-third of Boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—agreed. And roughly 50 percent of Busters believe homosexual relationships are acceptable, compared to half as many older adults.

The director of the research, David Kinnaman, said in the report that Busters’ perception of morality comes from their environment. Whereas Baby Boomers took moral experimentation to new heights, he said, Busters view things like divorce, crime, single-parent households and suicide as much more normal than their parents did.

“It is rare to see such large gaps between population segments, and it confirms a major shift in the way Busters think and behave sexually,” Kinnaman said about the survey results.

“Sexual experimentation is not new. But it is striking to see sexual behaviors and attitudes that were uncommon now becoming part of the accepted, mainstream experience of young people.”

To be sure, Busters have an individualized view of morality—one that disconnects the individual from the group. Almost 50 percent of Busters said ethics and morals are based on what is right for the person, while just one-quarter of pre-Busters agreed. Half of the Boomers believe in absolute truth, but only three of 10 Busters agree.

That belief in situational ethics affects morality in a big way. The report listed Busters as twice as likely to watch sexually explicit movies; two-and-a-half times more likely to commit adultery; and three times more likely to look at sexually graphic content online.

Gregory Kouckl, founder and president of Stand to Reason in Signal Hill, Calif., said he is not surprised at the survey’s results. Kouckl made Stand to Reason as a training resource for Christians who want to think about their faith and defend classical Christianity in the public square. Moral relativism and religious pluralism continue to pervade culture, he said, especially in implicit messages from TV news and sitcoms.

Although blaming TV for causing lax morals seems reactionary, he said, television’s implicit messages about sex and violence are far more powerful than blatant images of pornography or murder.

“The emerging Christian generation is more like the world than their predecessors,” Kouckl said. “I think that shows the aggressive nature of culture. … We do not realize how aggressive and corrosive culture is in the lives of our kids.”

Put simply, he added, kids believe what they’re taught, and they receive far more instruction from culture saturation than from the hour they spend in church each week.

Apparently, the Buster generation does not follow Christian teaching, even though Busters may know correct terms and are able to recite tenets of the faith. Instead, when it comes to daily life, Busters follow peer groups.

One way to reach those groups, Kouckl said, is to stop giving “topical” sermons and start preaching Scripture.

“When we have topicals that are geared to life enhancement, people never learn the message as it was originally given,” he said. “Now when you have teachers that are consistently preaching topically to make it consumer-palatable, those who listen never learn the Bible in the sense in which it was originally given. They don’t learn the structure, they just have all these bits and pieces.”

The key is to contextualize the message for the culture, Kouckl continued. Leaders at Stand to Reason, for instance, say their goal is to make “engagement with culture look more like diplomacy than D-day.”

Kinnaman, the researcher, also emphasized that point. He said young adults do not want to hear monologues about regulations or complaints about current society.

“It is important for churches to understand the natural skepticism of Busters, as well as their desire for spiritual and conversational depth,” he said. “To earn access to their hearts and minds, you have to understand each person’s unique background, identity and doubts, and must tangibly model a biblical lifestyle for them beyond the walls of the church.”

For the survey, the Barna Group conducted telephone interviews with more than 7,000 adults nationwide. The Ventura, Calif., group is a privately held, for-profit corporation that has conducted research and produced media resources since 1984.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Church opens its doors to students after school

By George Henson

Staff Writer

CHRISTOVAL—Doug Hurt believes ministry involves meeting needs. Because his church shares that commitment, the children of Christ-oval now have a place to go after the school day ends.

“We’re primarily a bedroom community, and most of the people who live here drive in to San Angelo to work,” Hurt explained.

“But here in Christoval, there was no place for their children to go. A few individuals would take in children, but there was no licensed place for children to go after school. Some went so far as to take their children out of Christoval schools and enroll them in San Angelo.”

To meet that need, Christoval Baptist Church, where Hurt is pastor, began an after-school program last fall. The church averaged eight or nine children as the community became aware of the ministry.

“We were happy with that,” said Diana Clendenin, assistant director of the program.

“We were ministering to children and their families, many of them who didn’t go to our church, and we were happy with that.”

This year, an average of 22 children are at the church, right across the street from the school, each weekday afternoon.

“It takes a little time for the community to realize that you’re there, that you’re viable, that you’re going to stick around,” Clendenin said.

About half the children each day are preschoolers or kindergarteners.

“But the really neat thing is that all of our kids really want to be there. Sometimes if their parents come to pick them up early, they’re not ready to go yet. It’s nice that the church is a place they want to be,” she said.

Some of the children stick around for church activities, especially for Wednesday night AWANAs, Hurt said.

“It’s been a great outreach for us in the community,” he said.

“That wasn’t our original focus, but it has worked out that way. A few families have even started coming on Sunday mornings.”

In a community the size of Christoval, population 450, it wasn’t like the congregation was a secret. It’s the biggest church in town, so everyone has known where it was, Hurt noted.

But he believes the after-school program may be causing people in the community to view the church in a little different light.

“It has made our community aware that we want to do more than have church on Sunday—that we really want to meet needs—that we really care about them,” he said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Updated: 12/01/06

Romanian child-development
center fits couple well

By Jenny Pope

Buckner

John and Phyllis Carrier of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas are both over 60. They’re retired, in good health, and part of an army of seniors looking to make a difference by offering their time and years of professional experience to do some good.

The Carriers, both former educators and international travelers, found a perfect fit when they volunteered as educational consultants for Buckner in Romania. For three months, they helped research and develop a detailed plan for construction and operation of a child development center in the gypsy-populated region of Tarneveni.

Phyllis Carrier comforts a mother and child during her long-term missions stay with Buckner in Romania.

“We’re different from normal mission trip volunteers,” Mrs. Carrier said. “We’re not working, we don’t have any family obligations, and we have the health and money and opportunity to travel. So we thought, ‘Why not go and stay longer than the normal mission trip?’”

Her husband, who had a 27-year career as a college professor and university president, said it was an honor to work with Buckner and use his skills to help “save people’s lives.”

Randy Daniels, Buckner international program operations director, said that with only three staff members in Romania, the Carriers’ time and expertise was invaluable in determining whether the timing was right for Buckner to move into Romania and start a school.

“We hope to recruit more volunteers like John and Phyllis—professionals who have retired but aren’t ready to quit. Their knowledge gives Buckner more eyes, more ears and more hands around the world, which ultimately means we can better serve more children,” he said.

During their three-month stay in Targu Mures and Tarneveni, the Carriers conducted field research and met with more than 20 Romanian government officials, UNICEF workers, school administrators, church leaders, health professionals and non-governmental organizations. What they discovered was a cry for help from country’s overwhelming and routinely ignored Gypsy community, also known as Roma.

John Carrier, a senior long-term missions volunteer with Buckner, hugs two Romanian orphan

“The Gypsy community is highly discriminated against in Romanian culture,” Carrier said. “They’re segregated, living in abandoned apartment buildings and shacks made of dirt and scrap pieces of wood and metal. They speak a different language. They beg on the streets. Few are educated and about 75 percent are unemployed.”

About 6 million people—25 percent of the Romanian population—is below the national poverty line, Carrier noted. The Tarneveni community, with a known population of 35,000 people, is surrounded by three Gypsy villages of about 6,000 people each.

“When the communist government failed, their safety net collapsed,” Carrier explained. “Factories closed; hospitals and schools closed. Suddenly public housing is private, and they’re left without jobs. Thousands of children are abandoned each year in this community, and thousands of Gypsy people have no birth registration.”

During the past seven years, Romania has worked to reform its orphanage system in order to enter the European Economic Union after experiencing international scrutiny for despondent orphanage conditions following the fall of communism.

Today, a majority of orphan children live in foster families or group homes and receive traditional education. Buckner supports dozens of these homes in Mures County, Romania.

However, Gypsy children still living with their families receive little social services support and usually do not attend public school because they are so behind in social and language skills, Carrier said.

“This is why the proposed child development center will make such an impact,” he explained.

“What Buckner is planning to do is a major step forward in Romania. They’re going into a community which is a vacuum of public services and offering to help supplement what the government is trying to do. What these people really need is love and care and help.”

The proposed child development center will care for children ages 3-4, and provide additional support services to them and their families, including humanitarian aid, health care, counseling and spiritual development.

“Our hope is that we can help prepare these children to enter the public school system at the age of 6,” Mrs. Carrier said. “These first years are instrumental in preparing them for a future.”

The Carriers’ dream of returning to Romania, or elsewhere if needed, and laying the framework for other retired seniors to follow in their footsteps.

“We hope that we can show others that people of goodwill can do this and be safe,” Carrier said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 11/30/06

Explore the Bible Series for December 10

God offers ways to overcome obstacles

• Ezra 4:1-6:22

By Howard Anderson

Diversified Spiritual Associates, San Antonio

The people of Judah began to rebuild the temple, and everything was progressing according to plan. Samaritan opposition to the rebuilding project developed. Conflict reared its ugly head, stalling a project that seemed to be going so well. Ezra 4 can serve as preparation for the opposition that will inevitably come in our lives.

Our confidence must be in God in order that we do not become frustrated by hindrances and adopt a pessimistic attitude. God still helps us accomplish our ministry tasks to enhance kingdom building. God expects us to continue with confidence as he works through us to accomplish his purposes.

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Facing opposition (Ezra 4:1-23)

“The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin” were the enemies in the region who resisted the reestablishment. The enemies endeavored to hinder the building of the temple. The enemies were the mixed race called Samaritans, the result of foreigners from Assyria (676 B.C.) being settled in the territory of the former northern kingdom by Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.).

“We seek your God … we do sacrifice unto him” was a false claim that represented the syncretistic worship of the Samaritans. The offer of help was a trap because it entailed a compromising union with semi-idolaters (2 King. 17:26-34).

Zerubbabel and Jeshua refused the Samaritans' offer of assistance in building the temple on the technicality that Cyrus gave permission only to the Jews to rebuild the temple. The exclusiveness of the Jews aroused the hostility of the “people of the land,” who opposed them “all the days of Cyrus … even until the reign of Darius.”

Idolatry was the chief cause for Judah’s deportation to Babylon, and they wanted to avoid it altogether. While they still had their spiritual problems, they rejected any form of mixed religion, particularly the offer of cooperation that had sabotage as its goal.

Since their offer to help build the temple was rejected by the elders of Israel, the adversaries tried other methods of weakening the will of the Jews to build. They “hired counselors” who sought to turn Cyrus and Darius, kings of Persia, against the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple work. They accused the Jews of building with the thought of rebelling as before. As a result, the people took more interest in their personal affairs than spiritual matters (Haggai 1:2-6).

All this was the ongoing occurrence of severe animosity between the Israelites and Samaritans, and later was aggravated when the Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim (John 4:9). The enemies were successful and caused a 16-year delay (circa 536-520 B.C.).

Overcoming hindrances (Ezra 4:24-5:17)

During the time of cessation of the work, the Lord began to stir up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah who were at Jerusalem. They began to encourage the Jews to resume the work on the temple regardless whether the decree would be confirmed. They were inspired of the Holy Spirit who knew the decree to build the temple would soon be confirmed and all hindrances by enemies would be defeated by civil authority.

The work actually was started through the prophets (vv. 1-2). When they gave prophecies that the work should begin again, the governor, Zerubbabel, rose up and began to build again.

The enemies of the Jews began again to hinder the work. They sent a letter to Darius urging him to cause the work to cease if he wished to maintain his control of this side of the Euphrates. However, Darius after learning of the original decree by Cyrus, reconfirmed it, and the work continued.

When the Jews began working on the temple again, the governor on the western side of the Euphrates, Tatnai, came and demanded to know who had given the authority to build the temple when Artaxerxes had commanded the work to cease. Tatnai was governor of Syria, and Zerubbabel was governor in Judah.

The temple was finished in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, but the walls were not completed until many years later, under Nehemiah in the times of trouble (Nehemiah 2-6; Daniel 9:25).

Dedicating the temple (Ezra 6:1-22)

King Darius issued an order to a small group of officials to search the rolls. The records of Cyrus confirmed he had made a decree to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The roll even gave dimensions of the temple.

The temple height was to be 60 cubits (125 ft.) and the length was to be 60 cubits (125 ft.). This was the same length as Solomon’s temple, but the height is twice the size of Solomon’s structure (2 Chronicles 3:3-4).

The returned exiles celebrated the first Passover at the new temple of Zerubbabel (v.19). These Jews are again addressed as “the children of Israel” (v. 21). There were many from Manasseh and Ephraim and the other tribes. The author concludes that Israelites of all the tribes are Jews, and all Jews are Israelites.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated for seven days with joy at the new temple of Zerubbabel (v. 22). By turning the heart of the king in their favor in allowing them to complete the rebuilding, God encouraged his people. Every king who succeeded the great Neo-Assyrian Empire regardless of what country they may have come from held the title “King of Assyria”.

Discussion question

• What guidance does this passage offer on how to overcome hindrances while pursuing God’s will?

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Lutherans offer belated apology to Anabaptists

By Daniel Burke

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has expressed “deep and abiding sorrow” for the persecution of Anabaptists nearly five centuries ago in Europe.

The ELCA’s church council, which issued the apology at its recent biennial meeting, hopes it will soothe relations between the Lutherans and present-day Anabaptists, including the Mennonite Church USA.

“The council acted because past statements have become problematic for the ELCA’s present-day relationships with (Mennonites) … and other Christians who trace their heritage to the 16th-century Anabaptist reformers,” the Lutherans said in a news release.

During the 16th-century Protestant reformation, Martin Luther argued Anabaptists and others who did not practice infant baptism should be punished by civil authorities. Moreover, the Augsburg Confession, an expression of faith and doctrine written around 1530 and still honored by Lutherans, explicitly condemns Anabaptists for adult baptism and their theology of grace.

Scores of early Anabaptists, whose name means “re-baptizers,” were executed for baptizing adults. Anabaptists believe one must be an adult to understand the implications of the sacrament.

Some of the Anabaptists’ spiritual descendants, including the Amish and Old Order Mennonites, still bear a mistrust of civil authorities, and illustrated copies of the book Martyrs Mirror are found in many Amish homes and schools.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America council said that the condemnations in the Augsburg Confession do not apply to today’s Mennonite Church USA.

The council also said it “rejects the arguments” by Luther and other early reformers “in which they hold that governmental authorities should punish Anabaptists for their teaching.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Angel House workers minister
to Chinese children with cerebral palsy

By Celeste Pennington

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

GUANGXI PROVINCE, China (ABP)—More than 1.7 million Chinese children under the age of 13 have cerebral palsy.

Because of poverty, limited medical services and China’s laws limiting each family to one child, these children often are abandoned to starvation, isolation and an early death.

Despite the number of children with cerebral palsy—a muscular impairment caused by brain damage—there are few schools in China designed specifically to help them develop.

But Angel House Rehabilitation and Education Center in Guangxi Province is making a difference.

At Angel House, each child is integrated into a program to help them assume normal roles in society. Kate Wang Fang, director of Angel House, said parents often ask her why she provides the service.

She tells them it’s because she’s a “Christ-follower.”

When Fei Fei, 3, arrived at Angel House, he was unable to sit up and could barely talk. With help from the workers like Wang Fang at Angel House, his cognitive and speech development now are nearly normal for his age. He also can sit without assistance and is gaining strength in his legs.

Along with Fei Fei, Angel House serves 20 children with a range of physical disabilities. Its staff of 14 forms a team of special-education teachers, rehab workers, caregivers and administrators. Their program includes speech therapy, exercises for developing motor skills and role-play designed to help students transition into society.

Brenda Lisenby, who serves as a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship representative in China, said working at the house has been a life-changing experience.

“Because nongovernment organizations are rare in China, Kate struggled to get Angel House off the ground,” Lisenby said.

“We relate openly as a Christian organization. We are not always well received. Some local schools and local governments prefer not to partner with Christian organizations. But then there are others who do wish to partner with us,” she added.

For six years, Lisenby taught English at a Chinese university. With her background in education, her facility with the Chinese language and her growing network of contacts, she is excited about the potential for serving in special-needs education.

“We definitely work among a marginalized segment of society,” Lisenby said.

“This work gives me an opportunity to impact whole families … as the Chinese learn how to affirm and welcome special-needs individuals into their society. I am amazed at how God works.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.