“…For years, I’ve heard complaints from Christians about why Harry Potter should be avoided at all costs – though they are quick to defend, praise and all but worship JRR Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” series and CS Lewis books. It’s frustrating on several levels. First, JK Rowling is an amazing author – both in style and story telling. Second, you simply cannot love Tolkein’s work and reject Rowling’s based on Christian principles. In fact, if anything, you should be quick to defend Rowling for making such an obvious parallel to the pained life, death and resurrection of Christ…”

“Bishop Macram Gassis shepherds the founding of a civilization … And he does it through action: Life-endangering charity and clarity. Gassis is the Catholic bishop of El Obeid, which includes Darfur, and is less than 2 percent Catholic…”

” …’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” — Matthew 22:37-40

“There’s no confusion about that. No smoke monster. No mystical wisdom that must be found on a mountain peak after growing a ZZ Top-worthy beard. Someone asks Christ what matters and the second thing is ‘Loving your neighbor as yourself.’ So then why are there so many hateful Christian blogs? Why do Christians write bitter messages on Twitter? Why do we send hate mail? I think there are two reasons Christians are jerks online…”

• Cracking Da Vinci’s Code – Friday Evening [The little one you hear at the end is my six-week-old son Jack.]
• Kingdom Witness in a Pagan World – Sunday School Thornwell Lecture, Sunday morning
• Holy Living in an Unholy World – Sunday Evening Sermon

Greetings from the mountains! It is raining here, showers bring the flowers! We are well. Jeanne is doing great and little John is growing & kicking a lot. We are so glad to be here. Thanks for remembering us! Most of you may have heard that one of our Afghan brothers is in prison. Please READ the story that follows. Please pray for Abdul! Thanks…Love, 3Js (Psalm 127). A certain Afghan by the name of Abdul Rahman converted to Christianity many years ago in Pakistan. He is in his 30s. He has had some mental and family problems. He traveled to Europe but was deported back to his country. His wife divorced him in Peshawar and the children were taken Abdul’s father. After the divorce, apparently Abdul continued to cause problems to his family. The father finally went to the police in order to stop Abdul from contacting him by telling them that Abdul converted to Christianity. Abdul was taken into custody and a court case has followed. The story hit public TV on Thursday, March 16. The newscaster stated that an Afghan citizen by the name of Abdul Rahman converted to the Christian religion 16 years ago. He was questioned, “Do you confess that you have apostacized from Islam?” He responded, “No, I am not an apostate, I believe in God.” Question: “Do you believe in the Koran?” Response: “I believe in the Injil (New Testament) and love Jesus Christ.” He refuses to recant. Imagine, all of this on TV here in this country. Will this man, weak as he is, (not well-known among the fellowships because of his mental instability) be the sacrificial lamb for the sake of Christ? Or will he be the front-runner, leading the train of believers forward? We need to pray:

1. That Abdul Rahman will be able to openly and clearly testify for Christ.
2. That he will be released because of his clear testimony that he is not an apostate.
3. That believers will take heart as they begin to follow the story.
4. That the international community will know how to support this case.
5. That through this crisis, there will truly be a genuine breakthrough in this land.