BHUBANESHWAR: Orissa Chief Minster Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced that his government will not permit Hindu outfits have a shutdown on Christmas day. The Hindutva groups had declared a shutdown strike on Christmas day demanding the arrests of those involved in the killings of Hindu leader Laxmanananda Saraswati, whose murder had set off the large scale violence against the Christians in the state. While replying to a state assembly discussion on the communal violence in the district of Kandhama Patnaik said that he will not allow Hindu groups to have a bandh or shutdown on Dec. 25. Police had Maoists were…

HINDU fundamentalist organizations in Orissa confirmed they will hold a bandh on Christmas Day triggering fears of further anti-Christian violence. On Dec. 17, 2008, ultra-nationalist Hindutva groups said they will observe a state-wide shut-down for 12 hours on Christmas Day, reported The Hindu newspaper. The protest is due to the ‘failure’ of authorities to arrest the killers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati who was killed on Aug. 23, 2008. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik opposes the bandh, and the newly appointed Minister of Home Affairs in New Delhi, P. Chidambaram, publicly assured Christians they'll be safe. However, AICC leaders remain…

7MR is devoting this week in a special way to seeking God in prayer.  Here’s what that will look like for us. monday  :: thanksgiving Give God thanks for His blessings in your life; for the Gospel and His grace; for this season with 7MR, for members on the Launch Team, and for all that the Spirit brings to remembrance.Psalm 103 tuesday  :: philadelphiaIntercede for this city that God has placed you in. Ask God to give you a love for this city. Crime, poverty, poor education, broken families, are among the many problems that plague our city. Ask for…

Everyone wants to enjoy life. Many people place the source of their joy in what they own, in their reputation, in their status, or in other worldly things. Yet, all of those things are unstable and can easily evaporate, taking joy with them. In the end, we will depart this world just as we entered it--with nothing (Ecclesiastes 5:15). So, although all of these sensual pleasures may provide short-term happiness, they clearly fail to provide genuine, lasting joy (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). On the other hand, true joy is offered in Christ. In John 10:10, Jesus said, "The thief comes only to…

Witness the Pound going from USD 1.63 to 1.52 and back to 1.59 in 24 hours on 24th October this year. The above (interesting) factoid is provided on his excellent Blog by John Wisbey, Chairman and CEO of Lombard Risk Management plc, the second largest global provider of regulatory compliance software and award-winning provider of risk management solutions to over 300 financial businesses and large corporations. The company's clients include over 20 of the world's top 50 banks, as well as many industry leading investment firms, asset managers, hedge funds, fund administrators, and global corporations. There is one principal point…

James Fallows, who writes for The Atlantic magazine, reports that China has imposed, as it appears, a nationwide ban on the New York Times's website, though he says that he "cannot be absolutely certain that this is a purposeful, country-wide blackout. Conceivably there is some other technological or accidental explanation. I consider this extremely unlikely....But logically, we cannot exclude the possibility that it's all an accident". In an earlier issue, he argued that "China's official PR machinery often succeeds mainly in making the country seem far more closed-off, impenetrable, defensive, and difficult to deal with than it actually is most…

I was listening to a message from Pastor Larry Stockstill today. I always come to this point of desperation where I'm ready to give up and God comes along and says "Hey!" Well, just now was one of those times. Did you know that 500,000 villages in India alone have never heard the Gospel? Has God called me? YES! Check it out: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 And,…

Christians are generally speaking, categorized into two groups as follows: (1) "Roman Catholics" and "Protestants" - depending on birth. (2) "Episcopal" (conformist) and "Free church" (non-conformist) - depending on church-pattern. (3) "Born again Christians" and "Nominal Christians" - depending on an "experience";(4) "Evangelicals" and "Liberals" - depending on doctrine.(5) "Charismatics" and "Non-charismatics" - depending on "speaking in tongues". (6) "Full-time Christian workers" and "Secular workers" - depending on profession. There could be other such categorizations too. But none of these categorizations deal with the root of the problem that our Lord came to solve. Many know that "Christ died for…

The world is waiting for Christians to be something different. They are waiting for us to bring the goodness of God to them. They might not know it yet, but they crave our love and compassion. They crave our selflessness and our will to influence change. What are we willing to lose, for the salvation of a soul? What are willing to sacrifice, so the world would be brought close to Jesus? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits…

Pretense is pointlessexpectations never dieregrets aren't forgivingand life only happens onceso what the **** am i doing? Benita Joy

To waste time, attempting to impress shallow people who otherwise don't care... or live up to superficial expectations and standards, which were anyway made for the shallow people to impress other shallow people. Yes, sometimes life requires you to play along or BS... Other times silence or short-one word replies are the best answer. I certainly don't owe everyone an explanation. Some people need to mind their own damn business. Ultimately, happiness and decisons are up to me. God operates beyond a "box" Calling isn't only limited to full-time church ministry Over the years, I thought I was being molded…

I was thinking… “Mortality inequality” is the phrase used to describe higher rates of death among genders (women and girls compared to men and boys) or socio-economic strata (poorer compared to richer countries), or other longevity factors (medical care, food, and social services). I recall going to an impoverished country in West Africa, filled with beautiful people, whose male life-span at that time was a meager 29, and female life span at 32. By their standards, I was already living in my bonus years! Fortunately, that country has made significant strides toward lengthening life. What the phrase is really addressing…

Text: Genesis 1:26-28God has called all of us to bear fruit, multiply, subdue the earth and have dominion. The following are some key principles so we can dream for dominion: 1. Understand that God’s love is unconditional but His blessings are conditional (Deuteronomy 28:1-2; Isaiah 1:19)a. Miracles don’t just happen; they occur when certain principles are applied. b. God enables us to participate in the progress of our lives; He gives us the option to succeed. 2. Understanding and harnessing desirea. Men rarely reach for what they need; they usually reach for what they desire. b. The proof of desire…

What is our reponse?I am appalled at the rampant insensitivity in most Indian-Christian responses to the gross human rights violation in Orissa. In 1999, We didn’t know how to respond to the attacks against the Church in Gujarat. It’s been almost a decade now and We still haven’t learnt to respond to attacks against hapless tribal christians. We can only view it ‘religiously’. We speak about the glories of martyrdom. We resort to jingoism and claim it to be signs of an impending explosion of churches. We moralize and ask our brothers to forgive the perpetuators. We treat these ghastly…

We all know what Christians are known for and negative perception by outsiders. When I was in high school, my friends and I mocked the religious believers who fit every stereotype of a Christian and called them "churchies." I discovered that perception has not changed for the last 500 years in Western culture. Renaissance writers and artists have criticized and mocked the religious Christians. Even before Shakespeare's time literature mocked Christians for being sheltered, hypocritical, self-righteous, judgmental, socially maladjusted and so on. . . Shakespeare and his contemporaries made fun of the Puritans. And yes, the Puritans had some very…

A friend draws my attention to a paper entitled "The Origins of the Financial Crisis" from the Initiative on Business and Public Policy from the Brookings Institution. This is very useful. I note that the authors acknowledge the “pro-cyclicality” of" liquidity and leverage in the financial system" and they even acknowledge that "the push to deregulate of the past thirty years has led to a lack of discrimination in policy. ...we need to improve regulation where it can make markets work bet­ter and avoid crises." However, they do not acknowledge the role of the specific refusal by regulators to implement…

These are more effective than 911 When - You are sad, phone John 14 You have sinned, phone Psalm 51 You are facing danger, phone Psalm 91 People have failed you, phone Psalm 27It feels as though God is far from you, phone Psalm 139 Your faith needs stimulation, phone Hebrews 11 You are alone and scared, phone Psalm 23 You are worried, phone Matthew 8:19-34 You are hurt and critical, phone 1 Corinthians 13 You wonder about Christianity, phone 2 Corinthians 5:15-18 You feel like an outcast, phone Romans 8:31-39 You are seeking peace, phone Matthew 11:25-30 It feels…

I think the sign of growing older is when a person's perception and view of the world becomes more refined, sophisticated and shaped. He or she tends to view things more realistically. For me, it seems all the sudden something struck my mind when I was somewhere in my mid-twenties. My perspective on life is radically different than when I was 18. As I grow older, I'm realizing that faith is not at all equivalent to naive idealism, emotionalism and based on superficial things. I have put away those things. I am still passionate about the things that have been…

Ever wondered why people just can't get it! Ever wondered why some people make such a mess even if it is so simple and straightforward? Tim Kelley (in his book The art of Innovation) talks about the need for "Empathy Check". There's no point in blaming people for being dumb. The key to success understand, "what went wrong?" Why are people unable to get it right? People are just people. We need to make a periodic " empathy check". What is empathy check? Empathy check is all about listening to those who can't get it. It's really about finding our purpose.…

1. the mumbai attacks. i don't have anything to add to what's already been said. i can only pray. i spent most of this year in that city; the news was sobering. 2. spent thanksgiving weekend in north carolina with friends and some family too. the first time in a long time where we didn't stay home and entertain a house full of people and cook a bird. 3. december is upon us. why am i not excited? 4. niki and i are directing a last minute christmas skit with a bunch of kids for this one fellowship group. this…