SEPT 2, 3 & 4 CAMP MEETING at The House of Prayer on Hiway 623 (south of New Sarepta & east of Hiway 21) Friday & Saturday 7:00 pm; Sun 10:30 am & 2:30 pm

     JESUS

IT IS HARVEST TIME IN GOD'S VINYARD:HELP US TO GATHER IN THE HARVEST OF PRECIOUS SOULS ACROSS THE WORLD. PRAY FOR OUR  UGANDA CRUSADE SEPT 13-18

Dear Christian Friends:       

                                                                                                      

     Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! It is with great joy that I share these wonderful truths with you, knowing that within each of us there is a desire to know and love God more deeply.

     We have been correctly taught that we must reverence God with holy awe and respect because He is the ‘Judge of the entire world’, as well as our Creator, Saviour, Healer and Life giver!

     What many do not understand is that God is LOVE and desires to bless us and also hungers for our love to be expressed to Him. Unlike the Old Testament prophets, Jesus Christ brought us a new understanding of the Almighty. He came to earth to show us what God is like. He wants us to know Him as He did. He taught us to call Him ‘Our Father’.

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN!

     The Jews believed that God was holiness. The Romans believed that God was power. The Greeks believed that God was wisdom. The Pagans believed that God was mystery. Scientists believed that God was energy. God is all of those and He is more. He is LOVE!

      The Bible says, “For God so loved that world that He gave His Only begotten Son - to suffer, bleed and die as our substitute – that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3: 16): “For when we were yet without strength (hopeless), in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet SINNERS, Christ died for us.” (Rom.5: 6)

      God’s Word states, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us ETERNAL LIFE, and this life is in His SON.  He that hath the Son hath LIFE and he that hath not the Son hath not life. “(1 John 5: 11-12); “He (Jesus) came unto His own, and His own (Jewish nation) received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:11-12)

     Ever since the tragic FALL of our first parents, Adam and Eve, man has been in need of a SAVIOUR! Prophet Isaiah put it in perspective: “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa.53: 6)

     “Surely He hath borne our sicknesses (heb. makob) and carried our pains (heb. nasa): yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isa.53: 4, 5)

    “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ…For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.” (Rom.5: 9-21)

     The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom.3:23); “There is none righteous, no not one.” (Rom.3: 10); “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

                                               BECAUSE HE LIVES WE LIVE ALSO!

       St. Paul explained: “Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by HIS LIFE.  Since His shed BLOOD saved us and He is now ALIVE, He pours His perfect LIFE into us!

     “We are…always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the LIFE also of JESUS might be manifest in our body… that the LIFE also of JESUS might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” (2 Cor.4: 10-11) The shed blood of Jesus Christ has purged our sins and satisfied the demands of Divine Justice, thereby freeing us from the penalty of our transgressions which was eternal separation from God. Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death for us on the cross has freed us from the ‘curse of the Law’ (Gal.3:13) and made us His children so that we are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with His Son.” (Rom.8: 14-17)

    The Bible states: “In Him (Jesus Christ), we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17: 28). And our Lord declared: “Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14: 19); “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” (John 15: 5)

BY GRACE, THOUGH FAITH, IN CHRIST!

C. S. Lewis stated: "If one has to choose between reading the new books and reading the old, one must choose the old: not because they are necessarily better, but because they contain precisely those truths of which our own age is neglectful."

      One thing all the great PROTESTANT REFORMERS agreed upon was that we cannot save ourselves through good works and that God has no grandchildren! Every one of us has to come to God personally through Jesus Christ and be born again by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in order to enter into His Kingdom!

      To them, the Holy Bible was the rule book for life, faith and morals. There was none other. They trusted in the Blessed Holy Spirit to lead and guide them into all truth and they gladly confessed Jesus Christ as the “Way, Truth and Life” and the ONLY Saviour of the world! They’re slogan was: “By Grace ALONE; Through Faith ALONE; In Christ ALONE!”

      In his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul lays out what I call the ‘Christ Alone Doctrine’. He writes: “God Who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by His SON, Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds.

     “Who being the brightness of His glory, and express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power, WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High..” (Heb. 1: 1-3)

                                                        THE CHRIST ALONE DOCTRINE!

    This Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ didn’t need any human or angelic help to purchase our salvation! He is the author and perfecter of our eternal salvation. When He took our sins upon Himself on Calvary’s Cross and bore our guilt, shame, fear, sicknesses and pain in His body on the cursed tree He did it all alone! His mother stood by helpless as did some of His followers. Most of them fled in fear!

     During those six agonizing hours our Saviour, “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’(Heb.12: 2) And He does not need any help to save sinners today! We preach His Gospel according to His Holy Word and lead them to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ saves them! He is the Saviour of Sinful men! He doesn’t need the Virgin Mary, the Angelic host, popes, prelates or Men of the Cloth to save sinners.

     HE ALONE IS THE SAVIOUR! We may pray, preach, admonish and labour to bring lost sinners to the cross, but He alone saves them! The Bible states: “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins.” (Lev.17: 11); “It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Heb.9; 22); “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sins.” (1 John 1: 7)

    It is not Christ and Church that saves! It is not Christ and the Virgin Mary that saves! It is not Christ and the saints that saves! It is not Christ and baptism that saves! It is not Christ and confirmation that saves! It is not Christ and good works that saves! A thousand times NO! It is Christ alone who saves and heals! Praise the Lord forever!

IT CHRIST ALONE WHO SAVES SINNERS!

       The Bible says: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). George Mueller stated: “Faith is the assurance that the thing which God has said in His Word is true, and that God will act according to what He has said in His Word. This assurance, this reliance on God's Word, this confidence is FAITH."   

     St Paul declared: “Let God be true, and every man a liar"(Romans 3:4).

     Before being burned on the stake, JAN HUS testified: “What I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood. My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake did wear a crown of thorns. My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one? I commend into Thine hands, O Lord Jesus Christ, my spirit which Thou hast redeemed.” - Jan Hus

      “The Gospel which we have today has come to us at the cost of the blood of Jan Hus, one hundred years ago! I live as though Jesus Christ died yesterday, arose today and is coming back tomorrow” – Martin Luther

      “I have one passion: It is Jesus, only Jesus” - Count Zinzendorf

      “Give me 100 men who love nothing but God and fear nothing but sin. And I care not a straw whether they be plowmen or clergymen. By these alone I will close the mouth of Hell.” – John Wesley

      “Go for the lost and go for the worst.” – General William Booth

     “Stoop as low as you lawfully can to pick them up rather than let them become worse while you stand on your dignity.” – Evangeline Booth

    “I gave up everything for Christy and what have I found? I have found everything in Christ” – Jan Calvin

     “Some men like to live near church bell.  Give me a Rescue Mission a yard from Hell.” – C.T. Studd

     “Give me souls or take mine.” – George Whitfield

    “O’ God, give me Scotland or I die.” – John Knox

    “If there was more Hell preached from the pulpit there would be less Hell in the pews.” – Winston Churchill

Thank God that there are still men of integrity and faith in places of prominence who like Daniel of old and Bishop Athanasius are not afraid to stand alone if necessary for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the face of the prevalent hyper liberal leftist bias and tyranny against intelligent and rationally minded people.- Pastor Max Solbrekken

"WE ARE FOOLS FOR CHRIST'S SAKE"

"We must pray for the courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world."
Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court Justice


Supreme Court Justice Atonin Scalla delivered an ardent defense of Christian beliefs and practice against the assaults of secular society on April 9, 1996. Addressing a prayer breakfast in Jackson, Michigan, sponsored by the Southern Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College School of Law's Christian Legal Society, Justice Scalia told the audience that Christians must proclaim their biblical faith and belief in miracles and ignore the scorn of the "worldly wise."

In unusually strong remarks for a Supreme Court justice, Scalia, appointed by President Reagan in 1986 and fourth in seniority among the nine, said the modern world dismisses Christians as fools for holding to their biblical, traditional beliefs. But, "We are fools for Christ's sake," Scalia declared.

Speaking outide of the strictures of a court case and without the burdens of legal jargon, the 60-year old Roman Catholic went on to offer a scathing portrayal of a society that is not merely skeptical but that disparages religious belief and believers, specifically Christians. Using the sarcasm and humor for which he is well known, Justice Scalia facetiously noted that "The worldly wise do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. It is really quite absurd [to them]." Continuing in the same vein, he added, "So everything from the Easter morning to the Ascension had to be made up by the groveling enthusiasts as part of their plan to get themselves martyred."

"The wise do not investigate such silliness," he said sarcastically. They "do not believe."
"A general belief in God is one thing," Scalia said, but "it is quite another matter to embrace the miracles of the Virgin birth of Christ, His raising the dead and His own ascension from the grave. Yet it is 'irrational' to reject miracles a priori," he argues, echoing G.K. Chesteron and St. Thomas Aquinas. "One can be sophisticated and believe in God. Reason and intellect are not to be laid aside where matters of religion are concerned.
What is irrational to reject [is]...the possibility of miracles and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is precisely what the worldly wise do."

Summing up, Justice Scalia declared, "We must pray for the courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world." "We are fools for Christ's sake." The audience of more than 650 persons, responded to Justice Scalia's remarks with a standing ovation.

Some of the attendees said they were surprised but pleased that Scalia was so personally revealing. His comments were refreshing, revealing and out of the ordinary, even for arguably the court's frankest, most publicly confrontational justice. Supreme Court justices typically speak in public about the law, sometimes about politics or culture, but almost never about a sensitive topic such as religion. In his legal opinions, Scalia has vigorously advocated a lower wall of separation between church and state and generally favors a greater accommodation of religion in public life. He favors clergy-led prayer at public school graduations and voted for state funding of some religiously affiliated programs in public schools.

The source of the "fools for Christ" phrase was lost on the Associated Press, as well as the Washington Post and USA Today, which headlined it, however, as front-page news. All three attributed the phrase to Justice Scalia himself. The shocked reporters and editors apparently didn't recognize the quoted biblical reference to the Apostle Paul which has been familiar to believers throughout the centuries. (I Corinthians 4:10) This skewered coverage of Mr. Scalia's private remarks illustrates the very point he was making: the "worldly wise" disparage religious belief and believers.

Justice Scalia's remarks drew fire from Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "This clearly undermines public confidence in his objectivity regarding religious controversies," Lynn said. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen found the justice's remarks "jarring" and questioned his competence at giving church-state issues a "fair and reasoned hearing." Rev. Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, outlined in a Wall Street Journal editorial page article what we might expect the next time Justice Scalia rules on a church-state issue: "The radical separationists will use the opportunity to relentlessly criticize him for lacking intellectual objectivity. This will take place despite his known reputation for wide learning, penetrating questions during hearings and brilliant court opinions."

"By this 'public confidence' standard," comments Sirico, "people of biblical faith are not to draw on their beliefs when contributing to public affairs, much less are they to aspire to sit on the Supreme Court. Only those who believe nothing at all - except for a doctrinaire attachment to legal positivism and the uses of judicial power - can be truly 'objective.' This view is not just an attack on religious faith, but on reason itself. By this logic, any assertion of the capacity of the human mind to know truth makes the claimant biased."
"This liberal double standard runs rampant," Sirico observes. "When President Clinton said he prayed about the partial-bith abortion ban before vetoing it, the media did not castigate him for bringing his faith to bear on the question. There were no repercussions when liberal clerics from the National Council of Churches prayed with him at the White House to 'give him strength' [to defeat GOP budget proposals] and actually performed the ritual of the 'laying on of hands.' No, faith and belief are perfectly fine so long as the complement the secular liberal agenda. But when someone like Justice Scalia, whose opinions have generally favored a diminished role of the federal government in national life, speaks out on behalf of the credibility of miracles, this cannot be tolerated. To pass the test, religion must serve as a hand-maiden to liberal politics. Mr. Scalia's profession of faith does not."

"Yet, by using Mr. Lynn's own standard of 'public confidence,'" Sirico argues, "Mr. Scalia's speech can only increase people's respect for the Supreme Court's opinions. Opinion polls show that a high percentage of Americans profess belief in God, believe in life after death and in the miraculous. Many also still believe Jesus is fully man and fully God. If we had a Supreme Court filled with people who disregard the possibility that faith can lead to truth, public confidence in the legal system would continue to plummet. St. Paul's remark about himself and the other apostles being 'fools for Christ's sake' was meant to draw the contrast with the haughty and self-satisfied. It was a remark born of humility when faced with God's power over our lives. Contrary to the protests against Justice Scalia's speech," Sirico concludes "a responsible use of judicial reasoning, as well as intellectual objectivity, would seem to require such humility."

This is what happens when the Church of Jesus Christ backslides and stops evangelizing the heathen and the people elect corrupt, cowardly politicians who would sell their grandmother for political advantage. May this News Report be a wake-up call to the Church to begin doing the work of Christ and evangelize the lost by preaching and living His Gospel. - Pastor Max Solbrekken

European 'No-Go' Zones for Non-Muslims Proliferating 

http://www.hudson-ny.org/

---

Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of "no-go" areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.

Many of the "no-go" zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.

The "no-go" areas are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated rather than become integrated into their European host nations.

In Britain, for example, a Muslim group called Muslims Against the Crusades has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including what it calls "Londonistan" – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.

The Islamic Emirates Project names the British cities of Birmingham, Bradford, Derby, Dewsbury, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Sheffield, as well as Waltham Forest in northeast London and Tower Hamlets in East London as territories to be targeted for blanket Sharia rule.

In the Tower Hamlets area of East London (also known as the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets), for example, extremist Muslim preachers, called the Tower Hamlets Taliban, regularly issue death threats to women who refuse to wear Islamic veils. Neighborhood streets have been plastered with posters declaring "You are entering a Sharia controlled zone: Islamic rules enforced." And street advertising deemed offensive to Muslims is regularly vandalized or blacked out with spray paint.

In the Bury Park area of Luton, Muslims have been accused of "ethnic cleansing" by harassing non-Muslims to the point that many of them move out of Muslim neighborhoods. In the West Midlands, two Christian preachers have been accused of "hate crimes" for handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. In Leytonstone in east London, the Muslim extremist Abu Izzadeen heckled the former Home Secretary John Reid by saying: "How dare you come to a Muslim area."

In France, large swaths of Muslim neighborhoods are now considered "no-go" zones by French police. At last count, there are 751 Sensitive Urban Zones (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, ZUS), as they are euphemistically called. A complete list of the ZUS can be found on a French government website, complete with satellite maps and precise street demarcations. An estimated 5 million Muslims live in the ZUS, parts of France over which the French state has lost control.

Muslim immigrants are taking control of other parts of France too. In Paris and other French cities with high Muslim populations, such as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse, thousands of Muslims are closing off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, are closing down local businesses and trapping non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for Friday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of "Allahu Akbar" via loudspeakers into the streets.

The weekly spectacles, which have been documented by dozens of videos posted on Youtube.com (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here), and which have been denounced as an "occupation without tanks or soldiers," have provoked anger and disbelief. But despite many public complaints, local authorities have declined to intervene because they are afraid of sparking riots.

In the Belgian capital of Brussels (which is 20% Muslim), several immigrant neighborhoods have become "no-go" zones for police officers, who frequently are pelted with rocks by Muslim youth. In the Kuregem district of Brussels, which often resembles an urban war zone, police are forced to patrol the area with two police cars: one car to carry out the patrols and another car to prevent the first car from being attacked. In the Molenbeek district of Brussels, police have been ordered not to drink coffee or eat a sandwich in public during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

In Germany, Chief Police Commissioner Bernhard Witthaut, in an August 1 interview with the newspaper Der Westen, revealed that Muslim immigrants are imposing "no-go" zones in cities across Germany at an alarming rate.

The interviewer asked Witthaut: "Are there urban areas – for example in the Ruhr – districts and housing blocks that are "no-go areas," meaning that they can no longer be secured by the police?" Witthaut replied: "Every police commissioner and interior minister will deny it. But of course we know where we can go with the police car and where, even initially, only with the personnel carrier. The reason is that our colleagues can no longer feel safe there in twos, and have to fear becoming the victim of a crime themselves. We know that these areas exist. Even worse: in these areas crimes no longer result in charges. They are left 'to themselves.' Only in the worst cases do we in the police learn anything about it. The power of the state is completely out of the picture."

In Italy, Muslims have been commandeering the Piazza Venezia in Rome for public prayers. In Bologna, Muslims repeatedly have threatened to bomb the San Petronio cathedral because it contains a 600-year-old fresco inspired by Dante's Inferno which depicts Mohammed being tormented in hell.

In the Netherlands, a Dutch court ordered the government to release to the public a politically incorrect list of 40 "no-go" zones in Holland. The top five Muslim problem neighborhoods are in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. The Kolenkit area in Amsterdam is the number one Muslim "problem district" in the country. The next three districts are in Rotterdam – Pendrecht, het Oude Noorden and Bloemhof. The Ondiep district in Utrecht is in the fifth position, followed by Rivierenwijk (Deventer), Spangen (Rotterdam), Oude Westen (Rotterdam), Heechterp/ Schieringen (Leeuwarden) and Noord-Oost (Maastricht).

In Sweden, which has some of the most liberal immigration laws in Europe, large swaths of the southern city of Malmö – which is more than 25% Muslim – are "no-go" zones for non-Muslims. Fire and emergency workers, for example, refuse to enter Malmö's mostly Muslim Rosengaard district without police escorts. The male unemployment rate in Rosengaard is estimated to be above 80%. When fire fighters attempted to put out a fire at Malmö's main mosque, they were attacked by stone throwers.

In the Swedish city of Gothenburg, Muslim youth have been hurling petrol bombs at police cars. In the city's Angered district, where more than 15 police cars have been destroyed, teenagers have also been pointing green lasers at the eyes of police officers, some of whom have been temporarily blinded.

In Gothenburg's Backa district, youth have been throwing stones at patrolling officers. Gothenburg police have also been struggling to deal with the problem of Muslim teenagers burning cars and attacking emergency services in several areas of the city.

According to the Malmö-based Imam Adly Abu Hajar: "Sweden is the best Islamic state."

Satan's spokesman from Iran who is known as the evil 'Little Hitler' speaks great words. How long will Almighty God allow the little pipsqueak to continue challenging Jehovah's Chosen people, and His Son Yeshua by imprisoning & killing Christians and burning Holy Bibles and seeking to contaminate Jerusalem, God's holy City? - Pastor Max Solbrekken

 AhmadiniJad: PA State First Step to Israel's Demise 
by Gavriel Queenann 

As Palestinian Authority officials prepare to make their statehood bid at the United Nations in September, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad said Friday the creation of a 'Palestinian state' ws only the first state to the destruction of Israel. 

Ahmadinejad, restating the position he outlined after taking office in 2005, said Israel was a "tumor" to be wiped off the map and urged Arabs in PA administered areas not to settle for a two-state solution, but to strive for a complete return of what they consider their land. 

"Recognizing the Palestinian state is not the last goal. It is only one step forward towards liberating the whole of Palestine," Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Friday prayers on international Qods Day -- an annual show of support for the PA cause. 

"The Zionist regime is a center of microbes, a cancer cell and if it exists in one iota of Palestine it will mobilize again and hurt everyone." 

"It is not enough for them to have a weak, powerless state in a very small piece of Palestine. They should unite to establish a state but the ultimate goal is the liberation of the whole of Palestine," he said. 

"I urge the Palestinians never to forget this ideal. Forgetting this ideal is equal to committing suicide. It would be giving an opportunity to an enemy which is on the verge of collapse and disappearance." 

Ahmadinijad's comments echo those of the long-Iranian underwritten Hamas terror organization in Gaza that has said any peace agreement with Israel would only serve as a prelude to war. 

Iran reportedly significant

Jesus Christ came to liberate the captives of Satan (John 10:10). Reza Kahlili is now a free man in Christ and the shackles of Islam have been broken. He is no longer a slave but a child of God. Praise the Lord - Pastor Max Solbrekken

IRANIAN AUTHOR: "WHY I RENOUNCE ISLAM AND CHOOSE CHRIST"
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C, August 25, 2011) -- Today, my friend Reza Kahlili, the former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officer, has posted an article on his blog telling the world that he has renounced Shia Islam and become a follower of Jesus Christ. The article is also running today on the WorldNet Daily website.
An excerpt: "Jesus came to me when I needed guidance. He came to me at a time when my faith in man and religion was totally shaken. His words and His love became the guiding light to set me free from sin and hopelessness. I found myself knowing there is goodness and kindness and that it comes from within us - that it is only through His love that we will find peace and eternal life. After a long journey, I have finally found my God. I feel at home now. And as I continue my fight against the evil in Iran, I know in my heart that the Lord will guide me in that fight because He loves the people of Iran even more than I do. The Iranian people are desperate for their freedom, and Jesus says, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32)."
Publicly professing one's faith in Jesus Christ is a big step for anyone from Shia or Sunni Islam. This is no less true for Reza today. Please pray for him to be strong. Please pray for him to walk with Jesus every day. Please pray that the Lord would protect him and his family spiritually, emotionally and physically as Reza takes this important step in the life of all Christ followers. Pray, too, that many will be moved to read the New Testament and consider the claims of Jesus of Nazareth and come to realize that Jesus truly is the Messiah. Feel free to share Reza's article with family, friends and colleagues who would be encouraged by his story, and with those who may be searching for Jesus as well.

Roman Catholicism is just another dead religion. Vibrant Evangelical, Pentecostal Churches like the early Church of St. James, St. Peter and St. Paul would have converted the incoming Muslims but the sleeping Catholics just asked for more wine, fun and games. The Muslim Imams are no match for the living, vibrant Gospel of Jesus Christ. O` Lord revive Thy back- slidden, sleeping Church - Pastor Max Solbrekken

Islam Overtaking Catholicism in France http://www.hudson-ny.org/ Islamic mosques are being built more often in France than Roman Catholic churches, and there now are more practising Muslims in the country than practising Catholics. Nearly 150 new mosques currently are under construction in France, home to the biggest Muslim community in Europe. The mosque-building projects are at various stages of completion, according to Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the Muslim Council of France (CFCM), who provided the data in an August 2 interview with the French radio station RTL. The total number of mosques in France has already doubled to more than 2,000 during just the past ten years, according to a research report "Constructing Mosques: The Governance of Islam in France and the Netherlands." France's most prominent Muslim leader, Dalil Boubakeur, who is rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, recently called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again – to 4,000 – to meet growing demand. By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church in France has built only 20 new churches during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches, many of which are destined to become mosques, according to research conducted by La Croix, a Roman Catholic daily newspaper based in Paris. Although 64% of the French population (or 41.6 million of France's 65 million inhabitants) identifies itself as Roman Catholic, only 4.5% (or 1.9 million) of those actually are practising Catholics, according to the French Institute of Public Opinion (or Ifop, as it is usually called). By way of comparison, 75% (or 4.5 million) of the estimated 6 million mostly ethnic North African and sub-Saharan Muslims in France identify themselves as "believers" and 41% (or 2.5 million) say they are "practising" Muslims, according to an in-depth research report on Islam in France published by Ifop on August 1. The report also says that more than 70% of the Muslims in France say they will be observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in 2011. Taken together, the research data provides empirical evidence that Islam is well on its way to overtaking Roman Catholicism as the dominant religion in France. As their numbers grow, Muslims in France are becoming far more assertive than ever before. A case in point: Muslim groups in France are now asking the Roman Catholic Church for permission to use its empty churches as a way to solve the traffic problems caused by thousands of Muslims who pray in the streets. In a March 11 communiqué addressed to the Church of France, the National Federation of the Great Mosque of Paris, the Council of Democratic Muslims of France and a Muslim activist group called Collectif Banlieues Respect called on the Catholic Church – in a spirit of inter-religious solidarity, of course – to make its empty churches available to Muslims for Friday prayers, so that Muslims do not have to "pray in the streets" and be "held hostage to politics." Every Friday, thousands of Muslims in Paris and other French cities close off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, close down local businesses and trap non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for midday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of "Allah Akbar" via loudspeakers in the streets. The weekly spectacles, which have been documented by dozens of videos posted on Youtube.com, have provoked anger and disbelief. But despite many public complaints, local authorities have declined to intervene because they are afraid of sparking riots. The issue of illegal street prayers was catapulted to the top of the national political agenda in France in December 2010, when Marine Le Pen, the charismatic new leader of the far-right National Front party, denounced them as an "occupation without tanks or soldiers." During a gathering in the east central French city of Lyon on December 10, Le Pen compared Muslims praying in the streets to Nazi occupation. She said: "For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it is about occupation, then we could also talk about it [Muslim prayers in the streets], because that is occupation of territory. It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. It is an occupation. There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents." Many French voters agree. In fact, the issue of Muslim street prayers – and the broader question of the role of Islam in French society – has become a major issue ahead of the 2012 presidential elections. According to a survey by Ifop for the France-Soir newspaper, nearly 40% of French voters agree with Len Pen's views that Muslim prayer in the streets resembles an occupation. Another opinion poll published by Le Parisien newspaper shows that voters view Le Pen, who has criss-crossed the country arguing that France has been invaded by Muslims and betrayed by its elite, as the candidate best suited to deal with the growing problem of runaway Muslim immigration. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose popularity was at 25% in July – worse than any predecessor less than a year ahead of a re-election bid, according to the TNS-Sofres polling group – has been spooked by Le Pen's advance in the opinion polls. He now seems determined not to allow Le Pen to monopolize the issue of Islam in France. Sarkozy recently called Muslim prayers in the street "unacceptable" and said that the street cannot be allowed to become "an extension of the mosque." He also warned that the overflow of Muslim faithful on to the streets at prayer time when mosques are packed to capacity risks undermining the French secular tradition separating state and religion. Interior Minister Claude Guéant on August 8 told Muslims who have been praying on the streets of Paris that they should utilize a disused barracks instead. "Praying in the street is something that is not acceptable," Guéant said. "It has to stop." Meanwhile, France ushered in Ramadan by inaugurating a new mega-mosque for 2,000 worshipers in Strasbourg, where the Muslim population has reached 15%. Construction also continues apace of a new mega-mosque in Marseille, France's second-largest city where the Muslim population has reached 25% (or 250,000). The Grand Mosque – which at more than 8,300 square meters (92,000 square feet) will accommodate up to 7,000 worshippers in a vast prayer hall – is designed to be the biggest and most potent symbol of Islam's place in modern France. Boubakeur, of the Grande Mosque of Paris, says the construction of even more mosques – paid for by French taxpayers – would ease the "pressure, frustration and the sense of injustice" felt by many French Muslims. "Open a mosque and you close a prison," says Boubakeur. But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has implied that the construction of mosques and minarets actually is part of a strategy for the Islamization of Europe. Publicly repeating the words of a 1912 poem written by the Turkish nationalist poet Ziya Gökalp, Erdogan said: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." Reflecting on the retreat of Catholicism and the rise of Islam in France, Archbishop Giuseppe Bernardini, an Italian Franciscan who heads the Izmir archdiocese in Turkey, and who has lived in the Islamic world for more than 40 years, has recounted a conversation he once had with a Muslim leader, who told him: "Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to your religious laws, we will dominate you."

Hello Atheists: You can run but you can't hide. Imagine what it will be like standing before the Ever Living, Eternal, Everlasting, Almighty God like a stammering idiot trying to tell Him why you did not believe, when you can't stand up to face William Lane Craig. - Pastor Max Solbrekken

Christian Philosopher William Lane

Craig Is Ready to Debate, but Finds Few Challengers

By Lauren Green

American Evangelical theologian William Lane Craig is ready to debate the rationality of faith during his U.K tour this fall, but it appears that some atheist philosophers are running shy of the challenge.

This month president of the British Humanist Association, Polly Toynbee, pulled out of an agreed debate at London’s Westminster Central Hall in October, saying she “hadn’t realized the nature of Mr. Lane Craig’s debating style.”

Lane Craig, who is a professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, Calif., and author of 30 books and hundreds of scholarly articles, is no stranger to the art of debate and has taken on some of the great orators, such as famous atheists Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. Harris once described Craig as “the one Christian apologist who has put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists”.

Responding to Toynbee’s cancellation, Lane Craig commented: "These folks (atheists) can be very brave when they are alone at the podium and there's no one there to challenge them. But one of the great things about these debates is that, it allows both sides to be heard on a level playing field, and for the students in the audience to make up their own minds about where they think the truth lies."

But David Silverman, president of the American Atheists, believes the reason behind the cancellation is much simpler. "The fact is some people get tired of debating Christians because of the same arguments over and over again. And sometimes it’s a lot like arguing with a wall," he said.

Others have refused to challenge Lane Craig, too, including Richard Dawkins, one of the Four Horseman of the new Atheist movement, which include Hitchens, Harris and Daniel Dennett.

Dawkins, who has labeled the Roman Catholic Church “evil” and once called the Pope “a leering old villain in a frock,” refused four separate invitations, extended through religious and humanist organizations, to take part in debates with Lane Craig during his fall tour.

The controversy wafted into the British press after fellow atheist and philosophy lecturer, Daniel Came, accused Dawkins of simply being afraid, saying, "The absence of a debate with the foremost apologist for Christian theism is a glaring omission on your CV and is of course apt to be interpreted as cowardice on your part."

Dawkins responded by saying, "I have no intention of assisting Craig in his relentless drive for self-promotion."

"I've had a few conversations with Dawkins. He doesn't do debates,” said Silverman who defends Dawkins' decision not to challenge Lane Craig. “He doesn't like those staged debates, which is why he doesn't do much. ... And he gets rather frustrated with the quality of responses."

Craig argues that science and faith are connected. In his writings, he states: "I think we are living in a time in human history where physical science is more open to the existence of a creator and designer of the universe than at any time in recent memory."

In his debates he suggests that the question to ask is not whether science can prove God's existence but rather the philosophy that "science can establish a premise in an argument leading to the conclusion that God exists."

But there many in Britain who would not agree and want to debate that. And they're welcome to do it, because apparently the position is open.