double disaster
Criminal networks using cover of rescue effort to target poor rural communities in country from which an estimated 15,000 girls are trafficked a year, warn NGOs.
Continue to pray. For the souls lost. For the recovery. And for life beyond the earthquake. Lord, may your Spirit descend heavily and protect the living and ward off exploitation. May survivors not become enslaved with their bodies sold to sex, but may they become overcome with their bodies devoted to your glory.
(Source: chainsawsuit.com)
Drop the mic.
A beautiful spoken word on caring about our planet – being a steward of God’s creation.
the police are america's terrorists
As long as there have been white people and black people and brown people in America, the slaughter of black and brown people has been used as a form of control. For centuries, on a population level, the racial majority has voted and lobbied to give agents of the state more power to act without sanction, to militarize, to kill. Functionally, this has enabled them to wage war on behalf of the majority of the public; to express hatred and fear and aspire to power through campaigns of terror and carnage.
Yellow people, if you wonder why black and brown people don’t just act like you, it’s because we’ve accepted abuse and injustice as fact. Yellow people, if you wonder why you aren’t targeted, it’s because we’ve rolled over like dogs in the name of peace and harmony. Yellow people, it’s time to stand up, stand out, and stand by our fellow brothers and sisters of color and stop being bystanders.
walter scott
Warning: the video contains graphic content of a child of God losing his life.
How many more black men must die before we are willing to recognize that American culture is racist? And by racist, I’m not saying that you are shooting or lynching the black man – I’m saying that you watch the death and say nothing, or perhaps you say, “he must have been a thug.” Does his life matter? Or is he just another statistic, another number to which we can say, “thank God that America is a safer place.”
Wake up white America. Wake up Asian America. Now is not the time to remain silent.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
- John Donne
Come Lord Jesus, come.
How much longer God?
guns for jobs
From pistols to rifles, 24 guns were turned over Monday at Bible Center Church. Men and women traded their weapons for a shot at a fresh start: job training.
Literally beating swords into plowshares!
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
- Isaiah 2:4
why aren't calvinists pacifists?
Reformed Christians have often been too comfortable with state-sanctioned violence.
Reformed Christians, and American evangelicals generally, have sometimes seemed like zealous warmongers, believing their nation was seamlessly carrying forward the purposes of the kingdom of God.
Why aren’t we praying for peace? Why do we seek destruction of peoples and nations? Why do we rejoice in the damnation of souls?
When God called us to be soldiers, it wasn’t to war against the other – it was to war against the self.
"I have long since learned that being a follower of Jesus Christ means taking up the cross. My Bible tells me that Good Friday comes before Easter. Before the crown we wear, there is the cross that we must bear. Let us bear it! Bear it for truth, bear it for justice, bear it for peace! Let us go out this morning with that determination."
— Martin Luther King Jr
parable of privilege
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
- Luke 10:29-37
Privilege is being able look away.
Privilege is having responsibility to respond.
pledge of allegiance
I pledge of allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America.
A symbol of hope; a symbol of terror.
A symbol of opportunity; a symbol of power.
And to the Republic
Bought by capital
Furnishing the Capitol
Founded on the blood of natives
Which would enslave me for my skin
Which would lynch me for my skin
Which would intern me for my skin
Which would despise me for my skin
Which would take my skin
As exotic clothing leaving me naked.
One nation, acting as its own god
Selling lies as dreams
Promising comfort, for your obedience
Promising entertainment, for your mind
Promising ecstasy, for your soul
Promising safety, for your heart
Promising work, for all your strength
Divided by race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomics
With liberty and justice for a select few:
The privileged, the wealthy – et tu?