...For Our Captors Required...

ABC NEWS

The Taliban in Afghanistan have set the Government a new deadline of noon (local time) to meet its demands in order to save 21 South Koreans, a day after a second hostage was killed.

The hardline Islamic militia wants the Government to free at least eight Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails, a demand government negotiators have rejected.

"If our demands are not met by then, we will start killing the rest of the South Koreans," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said.

The bloodied corpse of the second hostage to be killed since 23 were kidnapped nearly two weeks ago was found in the southern province of Ghazni, about 140 kilometres south of Kabul.

The body was dumped in a field just off a main road, with the hands tied and bullet wounds to the head.

These captives were not picked at random. They were chosen because they were Christians.

Right know South Korea's foreign ministry has identified the victim as Shim Sung-Min, 29, as the country reacted with outrage.

The six Muslim Imans that were kicked off of a U.S. Airways flight in Minneapolis last November have tried to file lawsuits against their accusers. These so-called men-of-god were chanting, praying and talking up Sadam and down with the USA before being given the heave-ho from the flight. For revenge, they sent their attack dog lawyers after the others on the flight that they frightened, the airport and U.S. Airways for having their so-called rights violated.

So where's the ACLU? Where's the outrage, when 23 Christians are taken captive by Muslims, denied their rights and two of them are brutally murdered? Their crime was being Christians.

These evil men are filthy vermin that hide behind their religion, behind the skirts of their woman and rags of their children. They have killed off God’s people. They have the blood of God’s saints upon their hands. I can neither judge or curse them.
In accordance to The Word of God, I hand them over to You, Oh Father Almighty, that You may judge them by their actions and may Your Will be done. I pray that You will not let these brave saints deaths be in vain.

May You raise them up into Your Kingdom. May You Oh Lord God release the captives. In The Name of Your Son Jesus I ask these things.

On The Willows We Hung Up Our Lyres

Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - A purported Taliban spokesman warned Friday that some of the 22 South Korean hostages were in bad health, saying hours after the kidnappers’ latest deadline passed that the captives were crying and worried about their future.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the kidnappers, told The Associated Press by phone that the group still insisted on exchanging Taliban prisoners for the captives, who could be killed if the demand was not met. Ahmadi spoke several hours after the passage of the most recent Taliban deadline but said the militia had not set a new one.

Some of the South Koreans were “not in good condition,” Ahmadi said. “I don’t know if the weather is not good for them, or our food. The women hostages are crying.

One hostage, 42-year-old pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was found dead of multiple gunshots on Wednesday in Qarabagh, the district where the hostages were being held.

What seems to go unreported by most news outlets is that these radical Muslims are purposefully holding Christian hostages because they are Christians. These 23 people were Christian missionaries in Afghanistan providing aid to residents of that country.

The slain man was the pastor of the church.

The widow of the slain pastor made a tearful appeal Friday for the release of the remaining hostages, saying she does not want other families to experience her grief.

“I sincerely hope that the pain the families are already having enough won’t deepen with more sadness,” Kim Hee-yeon told reporters. “I sincerely hope there won’t be any more victims.”

Several months ago an Italian journalist was kidnapped. The Italian government earned the release of one journalist by setting free five Taliban prisoners. Now one of the men that is behind these current kidnappings was one of the five held within an Italian prison and released in the exchange.

These evil men care nothing for human life. They crave only what they perceive as power. They commit suicide for their cause. They say they do this for their religion, yet they are godless men who have no souls. They are philistines.

The Rabbis of old tell us that the sin of Sodom was not only decadence and immorality. That was the fruit of sin. The sin of Sodom was inhospitality to visitors. The Angels of God came to the city to look for one righteous man. Only one righteous man showed them hospitality and invited them to his home and shared with them food and friendship, He protected them since he harbored them under his roof, even to the point that he was willing to sacrifice his own daughters to protect the strangers.

This truth is known not only to the Jews but to those who study the Koran.

“May you O Lord Our GOD have mercy on those captives and let them be set free. May you turn the hearts of those evil men to see your Light and know The Truth. May YOU Who know all things and judge all men turn this travesty into justice and show forth Your Glory. God save Your people. I pray this O Lord GOD Almighty in the Name of YOUR SON JESUS.”

My House is a Tornado Magnet

About this time last year a large maple tree in my front yard was uprooted by a very strong wind that lifted it out of the ground and placed it horizontal in my front yard. The roots were sticking straight up. I was amazing that the weather has so much power.




So today I receive an email from my sweet pretty wife. She had got up from instant messaging her friend Pixie to answer the telephone.

She placed the headset on and was suddenly zapped with electricity and a loud screeeech! She lost her composure. She told her friend that she had forgotten how to spell and immediately lay down in bed.


A few minutes later Denny, our friendly postman, bangs on our front door. She goes downstairs. Denny is panicing. "Are you alright?" Linny says that she is feeling better. Denny said that he was worried since the tree fell down.






Linny was not aware, but once again another tree has been blown over by the storm and the windy weather. May God be blessed, my car was not in the driveway. The tree and our pole lamp sure were damaged.

Things happen and life goes on.

Open Mouth, Insert Shoes Of The Fisherman

For the second time in the past four days, Pope Benedict XVI has put one of the size 12 hand-stitched Italian Shoes of the Fisherman, foot and all in his rather large German mouth.

As of today the Pope has laid out a traditionalist marker in a document released yesterday proclaiming that the "one Church of Christ . . . subsists in the Catholic Church". It also said Reformed/Protestant churches were not churches "in the proper sense", but were "ecclesial communities"





In the document, issued with the full authority of the Pope, the Vatican has described the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as “not proper Churches”.


The document has been criticized as offensive by some Protestants, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Catholic Church.
At least he is not showing any bias in offending.


The text of the document was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Pope Benedict before his election as Pope.

It states that Christ established only one Church here on earth. Other Christian denominations, it argues, cannot be called Churches in the proper sense because they cannot trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles.

On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI issued a Motu Proprio, literally a declaration in the pope's own name, authorizing wider use of the Latin Mass, an older form of Catholic worship that includes a prayer read only on Good Friday for the conversion of the Jews. The pope removed a rule that had required a bishop's permission before the mass could be used. Now, the liturgy can be used on the authority of an individual parish priest.


Reaction in the Jewish world was divided between those warning of possible setbacks in Jewish-Catholic relations and others saying clarification was needed from the Vatican before judging the pope's declaration.



If I recall recent history correctly, the former Pope, John Paul IIl strove to mend fences that had been torn down. He visited Israel and went to Shabbot service. He issued an apology by the Roman Catholic Church for the travesties that it had inflicted on the Jewish people.

Pope John Paul II also met with the Orthodox Patriarch to heal the wounds between the Orthodox and Roman Churches. The current Pope is giving his best effort to turn the clock back to the Dark Ages.

I don’t care.

I for one never wanted to be a part of THE CHURCH. What THE CHURCH represents is politics and self service. Give me THE BODY OF CHRIST. That is what I want to be a part of.

The Body of Christ is all believers that have joined together for the common purpose of worshiping God, The Father of us all and giving praise to the Name of Jesus, His Son and being in the presence of His Holy Spirit that calls His people together. The Body of Christ is serving and not being served. The Body of Christ is about being a servant, not being exulted.



I feel bad for Pope Benedict the XVI because he just doesn’t get it.

Loving Deb Smith

What seems to be left out of That 70's Show is the Jesus Movement. I recall those days very well, since I was a genuine, sandal wearin’, Bible-readin’ Jesus Freak. If asked I could point out quite a few place in my fair city that back in the 70's were custom made for those of us that were caught up in the Jesus Movement.

One of those places was The House of The Carpenter. This was an old apartment building on Ravine Street in the Clifton neighborhood of Cincinnati. It was only a short walk from there to the University of Cincinnati.



Tom Smith and his wonderful wife Deb spent their younger days as caretakers of this building that housed Christian students. It was what we referred to at the time as a Community, which was a step up from a Commune, since the denizens of the house were shaved, saved, bathed, baptized and drug free.


At the time Deb was also a mommy to a precocious little girl named Charity. Tom was a campus minister and spent time counseling university students.

As the Jesus Movement progressed on the University of Cincy campus, so did the ministry progress and blossomed into a church which grew and grew. Deb and Tom remained the anchors and role models for a lot of us as we started raising our own families.



I learned last week the Deb Smith is extremely ill with cancer. It has invaded her bones, lymphatic system, lungs and retina. I know this is incredibly painful for her. In Deb’s life she has been a mom to her three children, a pastor’s wife (that alone qualifies her as a saint), a teacher, an artist, a farmer’s wife and a grandmother.


I ask that you join me and my wife in praying for Deb that God would heal and comfort her. May He strengthen and renew her. May He give her His Peace and give it to her family as well. And may He bless her as much as she has blessed all that know her.

Please visit the blog that has been set up for her.

http://lovingdebsmith.blogspot.com/