HOW TO FIGHT LIKE A CHRISTIAN

Know your Enemy.

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." - (1 Peter 5:8)

 

Understand who is NOT your enemy.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." - (Eph. 6:12)

 

Know your weapons.

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." - (2 Cor. 10:4)

 

Understand your mission.

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” – (Matt. 5:44-45)

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.” – (Luke 6:27-29)

 

Wear your armor.

 "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." - (Eph. 6:11)

 

Understand the nature of your struggle

"If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer." - (2 Cor. 1:6)

 

 Be confident.

 "No weapon formed against you shall prosper" - (Isaiah 54:17)

 

Understand your covert strategy.

 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." - (Matthew 10:16)

 

Claim the victory.

“…I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." - (Matthew 16:18)

 

Summary:

No human being is your enemy.

Your warfare involves prayer, love, and becoming a blessing to those who hate you.

Lives may be lost in this battle, and your own life is most certainly one of them.

If blood must be shed it must be your own.

You must look out for the well-being of your fellow-soldiers, and your enemy.

You are a sheep, not a wolf. Trust in your Shepherd for protection.

 

 

Warships Full of Buckets: Or Ambassadors and Their Enemies

by Chase Andre

On the anniversary of Sept. 11, men — protesters? terrorists? — breached the walls of the US embassy to Libya, tore down the American flag and murdered the US Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

To the Libyans, Stevens was functionally President Obama. An ambassador carries the authority of the one he represents. With this authority, Ambassador Stevens managed to transform the civil war-torn country. “It’s especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi, because it is a city that he helped to save,” President Obama declared of the fallen US hero.

President Obama went on to say, "There is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence," and has vowed to seek justice on the perpetrators.

If you mess with an ambassador, you better be prepared for the wrath of his higher up. Wars have started because an ambassador was mistreated. That’s why no one has expressed much surprise at the Pentagon’s decision to deploy two warships to the coast of Libya. While the White House has, rightfully, been careful not to blame Libya or Islam for these actions, it is too early to tell what sort of “wrath” will befall on those who pulled the trigger.

In the meantime, I mourn with the families of the four people who lost their lives today.

This story grabbed my attention because I find myself fascinated with the relationship between ambassadors and their homeland, as well as their relationship with the land they occupy.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul instructs us to relate to God and to the city around us like Ambassador Stevens related to President Obama and to Benghazi, Libya. Paul knew a lot about this ambassador relationship to which he called the Corinthians (and us); he lived his life as an ambassador, and often encountered those who disrespected the Authority he carried. Stoning and imprisonment were regular rhythms of his life as Christ’s ambassador.

But he understood this relationship to another degree, too. See, in a past life, Paul — or Saul, as he was known then — sought out and murdered Christ’s ambassadors, protesting the spread of the Gospel. In response, Christ turned his wrath on Saul. He deployed the warships of his gaze onto the enemy of His representatives. As a result, Saul became Paul. The enemy became the friend became the ambassador. The wrath which Christ turned on the terrorist of the Church was the fullness of His love.

This is how the enemies of God are treated. P(ost-S)aul says it plainly in Romans: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (5:10).

As Ambassadors of Christ, we are called to treat our enemies in the same way. “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). As Christians, the warships sailing toward our enemies’ shores mustn’t hold Tomahawk missiles, but meals, prayers, and buckets to wash the feet of those who intend to dance on our graves.

It’s easy to talk about this when it’s a conversation springboarded off of a tragedy on the other side of the world. When it’s someone else’s enemies. When it’s someone else’s coast.

But what about our enemies at home?

Who do you perceive to be your enemy? Is it someone who shares your blood? Someone in your office? Is it someone who lacks the right “papers”? Police officers? The church on the corner? Politicians or murderers? The monkey suits in Wall St, or the jumpsuits in penitentiaries?

What is your God-ordered role as an Ambassador to those enemies? What about to those in your city? Will they say, as President Obama said of Christopher Stevens, that it’s a city you helped to save?

Remember, the way the world responds to tragedy and persecution isn’t the way heaven does. We are here to represent heaven’s King, and are called to respond to His enemies as He does. May your warships be loaded with love, may grace be its cargo, and may there be reconciliation in its sails.

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JOIN US AT PACIFIST FIGHT CLUB: ROUND 3 ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 AT BIOLA.

JOIN US: ROUND 3 - "The Least of These"

Make plans now to join us for Round 3 of Pacifist Fight Club on Saturday, September 15th.

PACIFIST FIGHT CLUB

We will fight for peace, but we will do no violence

Saturday, September 15, 2012, 9:00 am to 2pm, Biola University.

Round 3- "The Least of These"
This is a FREE Event.

NOTE: *BRING YOUR OWN SACK LUNCH *WATER, COFFEE & TEA PROVIDED

Our Fighters will be:

*Crissy Brooks; MIKA CDC (Poverty and Immigration)
*Wendy Tarr; CLUE OC (Poverty and Immigration)
*Leia Smith; ISAIAH HOUSE (Poverty in Orange County)
* Dr. Deshonna Collier-Goubil; Author of "Does Religion Affect Peaceful Behavior?"  (Torture and Prison)

 

LOCATION:
Biola University, Business Building - Room 201.
Address: 13800 Biola Ave. La Mirada, CA 90639

Directions:

Biola is easily accessible off of the 5 freeway (coming from the North take the Rosecrans exit, coming from the South take the Valley View exit).

Details:

The Business building is #50 and is the first building on the right through the main entrance on Biola Avenue.

Parking:

Visitors can park in the visitors parking lot (Lot D) adjacent to the Business Building. Parking permits will be handed out the morning of the event.

 

NEW FIGHTER ADDED TO THE CARD

 

 

Dr. Deshonna Collier-Goubil, author of "Does Religion Affect Peaceful Behavior?" will be speaking at Round 3 of Pacifist Fight Club on the subject of Prisoners and Social Justice.

 

Dr. Collier-Goubil is an associate professor of Sociology at Biola University. She is an expert on Criminology, Jails, Prisons and the Corrections System, as well as Women and Criminal Justice and Terrorism in Contemporary Society.

 

Publications

• Hodge, Daniel White, and Deshonna Collier Goubil. 2012. The Hostile Gospel: Hip Hop's Totemic Post Soul Theology. Editor of series W. Goldstein, Center for Critical Research on Religion and Harvard University. Boston, MA: Brill Academic. (Publication forthcoming early 2013).
• Block, C., Collier-Goubil, D., Moore, and A., Reed, W. (2011). Collaborating with Practitioners in Lenning, Brightman and Caringella's "A Guide To Surviving A Career in Academia, Navigating the Rites of Passage." New York: Routledge.
• Collier, Deshonna. (2010). Per Capita Income In Washington, DC: A Time Series Analysis. A Time Series Analysis. Abdul Bangura (Ed.) Greater Washington Metropolitan Social-Economic Trends, 1970-2005. CA: Iuniverse.
• Collier, Deshonna. (2010) Does Religion Affect Peaceful Behavior?: A Study of the District of Columbia Abdul Bangura (Ed.) Perceptions of Peaceful Behavior in Washington, DC. CA: Iuniverse.
• Reed, Winnie and Collier-Goubil, Deshonna. (2009). Crime Prevention Partnerships, United States. Bonnie S. Fisher and Steven P. Lab (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Victimization and Crime Prevention. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
  
  

IMMIGRATION: U.S.-born kids lose rights in Mexico

[EXCERPTED FROM ORIGINAL STORY BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press]

READ THE FULL STORY HERE > 

*

Because of the byzantine rules of Mexican and U.S. bureaucracies, tens of thousands of children now find themselves without access to basic services in Mexico — unable to officially register in school or sign up for health care at public hospitals and clinics that give free check-ups and medicines.

**

One by one, the parents tell government workers their stories: First, they crossed illegally into the United States for work, found jobs, and had children. Then, they were caught and deported, or left on their own as the work dried up with the U.S. economic slump. Now they are back in Mexico with children who are American citizens by virtue of being born on U.S. soil.

 At issue is a Mexican government requirement that any official document from another country be certified inside that country with a seal known as an "apostille," then be translated by a certified, and often expensive, translator in Mexico.

It's a growing problem in Mexico as hundreds of thousands return home because of the sluggish U.S. job market and a record number of deportations. Illegal migration of Mexicans to the U.S. is at its lowest level in decades, with more Mexicans now leaving the United States than entering it each year.

**

More than 300,000 U.S.-born children have been brought to Mexico since 2005, out of a total of 1.4 million people who moved back from the U.S. during that period, according to the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center.

The number of U.S.-citizen children living in Mexico with at least one Mexican parent reached 500,000 in 2011, according to one demographic study.

 **

Many of the Mexican parents of U.S. children were not aware of Mexico's paperwork requirement before they came back, so now tens of thousands are struggling to get their children's documents to the United States to be certified, and then returned to Mexico to be officially translated.

They get little help from the Mexican government....

 

"The government doesn't care about what happens to the people who are coming back," said Maria del Rosario Leyva, who came back with her two U.S.-born children, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, from Santa Ana last year after their father was deported.

 She and other returnees have gone to schools and to education offices seeking to enroll their children. Some were sent to Malinalco's records office, which suggested they hire a lawyer.

**

 

Many parents don't understand what administrators and clerks tell them. Official procedures are often confusing even for college-educated Mexicans. Misconceptions are widespread: Hernandez said he'd heard from other families that if he didn't get the children's documents stamped, U.S. officials could take the youngsters from him, even in Mexico.

 

"The mothers have come to us for help after multiple frustrations," said Ellen Calmus, director of the Corner Project. "I've literally had a series of mothers in tears coming to the office."

 

**
A majority of migrants' American-born children stay in the U.S. with relatives, or are taken into state foster care after their parents are arrested for crimes. Demographers say only about 10 to 15 percent of the U.S.-born youngsters are taken to Mexico.

 

"These are children who are kind of stateless in both countries," said Hirokazu Yoshikawa, academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and author of "Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and Their Young Children."

 

**
"Each generation is undocumented in one country," he said.

 **

In Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that the U.S. government worries about U.S.-born offspring of migrants. "Where are the children? What's going on with the children?" she said in an interview with The Arizona Republic newspaper.

 

Leyva said her U.S.-citizen children will not stay in Mexico beyond childhood...Her eyes moistened as she told of how they often ask when they will return to the United States.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE >

UPDATED: New Location for Round 3 of PFC

LOCATION:

Biola University, Business Building - Room 201.

Address: 13800 Biola Ave. La Mirada, CA 90639

Directions:

Biola is easily accessible off of the 5 freeway (coming from the North take the Rosecrans exit, coming from the South take the Valley View exit).

Details:

The Business building is #50 and is the first building on the right through the main entrance on Biola Avenue.

Parking:

Visitors can park in the visitors parking lot (Lot D) adjacent to the Business Building. Parking permits will be handed out the morning of the event.

PACIFIST FIGHT CLUB: ROUND 3 - "THE LEAST OF THESE"

Make plans now to join us for Round 3 of Pacifist Fight Club on Saturday, September 15th.

Our Fighters will be:

*Crissy Brooks; MIKA CDC (Poverty and Immigration)

*Wendy Tarr; CLUE OC (Poverty and Immigration)

*Leia Smith; ISAIAH HOUSE (Poverty in Orange County)

*Dr. Thomas Crisp; BIOLA, DOROTHY DAY SOCIETY (Torture and Prison)

Location and more details coming soon.