Muslim – Page 4 – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

The message of God’s redemption and forgiveness. Why the cross is the most hated symbol.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1)

Top: The original location where the iron cross was found.

1 Corinthians 1:18 [ Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom ] For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For Muslims, atheists and humanists the cross is an offense since it is to them the stench of death. But to us who believe it is the symbol of redemption and new and eternal life in Christ. If they were not pricked in their hearts when they see the cross they would not be offended.

He died on the cross at Ground Zero.

There is only one risen hero.

But the fools reject grace,

stay condemned, cannot face

The truth in The Cross at Ground Zero.

There is no greater symbol for God’s love for us than was shown in Jesus’ death on the cross. The cross symbolizes the two main tenets of the Christian faith: Redemption and forgiveness.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (St. John 3:16-17)

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The important thing to note in these two quotes from the Bible is that God’s love for us is unconditional, and existed before we did anything to deserve it. However, God demands one thing from us: Forgiveness. The prayer Jesus taught us to pray states: And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. This puzzled the disciples who had grown up with the saying “An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21-22)

This concept of forgiveness is not uniquely Christian. The Jews have a similar concept: “Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD”. In fact, all religions embrace forgiveness, except Islam. The Muslims have not yet gotten over the loss of Spain. 80% of Egyptians believe that leaving Islam and becoming a Christian should be punishable by death. In Sharia law the penalty for some crimes is to cut off one hand and one foot on opposite side for the offender. The list goes on and on. About the only sure fire way for a Muslim to go to heaven is to die as a martyr for the case of Jihad. Next best thing is to emigrate and thus spread Islam. This is almost as good as being a martyr. Third is to obey the five tenets of Islam, like hard fasting during daytime in the month of Ramadan which this year began June 6 and ends July 5. Ramadan comes about 11 days earlier every year, so the Muslims, being strictly lunar based have 103 years when the rest of the world has 100. The bottom line is, that it is nearly impossible to do all the things mandated in Islam, like praying at the exact right times if you are traveling, since prayer times are established by local sun-time, not standard time. In addition, it is forbidden to start praying at exactly sun noon, it must start at least 2 minutes after sun noon to be on the safe side, mind control at work.

This is what we are facing: For an Islamist the best option is to die as a martyr for the cause of Jihad, the next best option is to emigrate to spread the faith.

Muslims reject that Jesus died on the cross. It only seemed so to the Jews. No, he was directly translated up to heaven, and will return together with the 12th Imam, destroying all crosses and declaring Muhammad the greatest prophet.

The other enemies of the cross are the humanists.

Excerpt from the humanist manifesto II: [From first clause. But] we can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. While there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.

SECOND: Promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices. Modern science discredits such historic concepts as the “ghost in the machine” and the “separable soul.” Rather, science affirms that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces.

Their hatred for the cross is based on the complete rejection of the concept of redemption.

Humanists, socialists (Muslims vote about 80% socialist in Europe), communists and most liberals have joined forces to try to eradicate Christianity. Their least common denominator is their hatred for the cross.

Yet there is hope. Jesus said: (John 16:33) These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

The intermediate location for the iron cross.

The final place for the iron cross at the 9/11 memorial.

Was Muhammad “the Prophet” or even a Prophet?

“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

The quote comes from a speech that President Obama delivered to the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2012 about the death of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. At that time he still blamed a video.

Muslims claim, and the religion of Islam demands that Muhammad was “The Prophet”. This claim comes from what Muhammad called “the Book”, Deuteronomy 18: 17-22

¹⁷The Lord said to me (Moses) : “What they say is good. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. ²⁰But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

²¹You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²²If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.

After Muhammad fled from Mecca to Medina he started to proclaim he was “The Prophet” His new followers wanted to make sure he was “the Prophet” so they asked the Jews. The Jews immediately answered “No, he is not The Prophet. The Prophet must be an Israelite, and Muhammad is an Ishmaelite, so he is an impostor”. That didn’t sit well with Muhammad, so he ordered his followers to start praying to Mecca instead of praying to Jerusalem, as had been their practice until then. His always cooperating archangel provided a convenient revelation that that was indeed so. Since then Muslims have prayed to Mecca instead of Jerusalem, and been on the warpath against the Jews.

So, Muhammad was not “The Prophet”. Was he even a Prophet?

Everything a prophet proclaims must come true for him to qualify as a Prophet. One miss, and you are out. One prophecy Muhammad claimed was that the Jews would never be a unified nation again, and that they would not be able to fight militarily against the Muslims.

“They [the Jewish people] will not fight you (even) together, except in fortified townships, or from behind walls. Strong is their fighting (spirit) amongst themselves: thou wouldst think they were united, but their hearts are divided: that is because they are a people devoid of wisdom.” (Surah 59:14).

The seven day war and other wars since the formation of Israel in 1948 proves this prophecy wrong. (The opposite of what was prophecised has occurred)

Logic demands that Muhammad was not a prophet.

The Muslims have chosen another explanation: Israel does not exist, will never exist, has no right to exist and all fighting that has occurred in the Mideast can be explained by other means. There never was a genocide of Armenians, the holocaust never occurred and so forth.

After President Anwar Sadat of Egypt signed the peace accord with Israel together with Begin and President Carter, he was promptly assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is my opinion that the only solution possible for peace in the Middle East is a reformation of the Muslim faith, accepting the violent history of Islam, its slavery and oppression, abandoning all physical claims to future world dominance, separating out the spiritual claims, and abandoning their geographical dreams of physically conquering the world. There are plenty of Muslims here in the USA willing to work towards that goal, but unfortunately they are not accepted by President Obama, who still prefers to work with the Muslim Brotherhood and their affiliates.

Pope Francis: Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Allah. Only the name is different. A Limerick.

The Bible, Koran are the same

the difference is just in the name.

But the difference is great

One redeems, one is hate.

The Pope is plain wrong, that’s a shame.

A year ago the Bishop Of Rome addressed his Roman Catholic followers regarding the importance of exhibiting religious tolerance. Pope Francis was quoted telling the Vatican’s guests that the Koran, and the spiritual teachings contained therein, are just as valid as the Holy Bible.

“Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Allah. These are all names employed to describe an entity that is distinctly the same across the world. For centuries, blood has been needlessly shed because of the desire to segregate our faiths. This, however, should be the very concept which unites us as people, as nations, and as a world bound by faith. Together, we can bring about an unprecedented age of peace, all we need to achieve such a state is respect each others beliefs, for we are all children of God regardless of the name we choose to address him by. We can accomplish miraculous things in the world by merging our faiths, and the time for such a movement is now. No longer shall we slaughter our neighbors over differences in reference to their God.”

Mea culpa. The story seems to be a “free interpretation” of the Pope’s remarks at a gathering between Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Jews and Muslim leaders. The tone was one of reconciliation, respect, and acceptance of each others faith, but the Bible and the Koran was not specifically mentioned. What threw me off was it was attributed to the Washington Post. (or more specifically washingtonpost.com.co, a Colombian outfit in no way associated with the newspaper.) What the Pope really said was:

I greet and thank cordially all of you, dear friends belonging to other religious traditions; firstly the Muslims, who worship the one living and merciful God, and call upon Him in prayer. I really appreciate your presence, and in it I see a tangible sign of the wish to grow in recipricol trust and in cooperation for the common good of humanity.

The Catholic Church is aware of the importance of the promotion of friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions – this I wish to repeat this: the promotion of friendship and respect between men and women of different religious traditions – this is attested evident also in the valuable work undertaken by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The Church is equally aware of the responsibility that each of us bring towards our world, abd to the whole of creation, that we must love and protect. And we can do a lot for the good of the less fortunate, for those who are weak and suffering, to promote justice, to promote reconciliation, to build peace.. But above all, we must keep alive in our world the thirst for the absolute, and must not allow the vision of the human person with a single dimension to prevail, according to which man is reduced to what he produces and to what he consumes: this is one most dangerous threats of our times.

We know how much violence has been provoked in recent history by the attempt to eliminate God and the divine from the horizon of humanity, and we feel the need to witness in our societies the original openness to transcendence that is inherent in the human heart. In this we feel the closeness also of those men and women who, while not belonging to any religious tradition, feel, however the need to search for the truth, the goodness and the beauty of God, and who are our precious allies in efforts to defend the dignity of man, in the building of a peaceful coexistence between peoples and in the careful protection of creation.

Dear friends, thank you for your presence. To all, I offer my cordial and fraternal greetings.

Nevertheless, the approach to paper over irreconcilable differences is a warning sign.

My wife is Danish, so I follow Danish news. The newspaper Jyllandsposten had in September 2005 issued a competition for the best cartoon of Muhammad. This was in response to a threat from the Muslims. There had been an honor killing in Denmark, and the Danes decided: We will not put up with this. So they gave lengthy sentences to all six involved, including the taxi-driver, since he too was in on it. They got death threats for the way they reported it. So Jyllandsposten editors decided: We are not afraid. Numerous riots and more than a hundred deaths have occurred since the publication of the cartoons. The Danish flag also got the honor of being burned together with the Israeli and U.S. flag.

I followed in horror. Is this the face of Islam? Why do they not condemn the insanity of it? I told the Lord in prayer. I am going to find out about the Muslims. The Lord answered: You may do that, but first you must learn the Holy Bible fully. So I put the Bible to Power-point, 11000 slides and growing, then I put the Koran to power-point, 2040 slides. To understand the message better I wrote it down in the order of revelation rather than in the order of length, the traditional way. I was disappointed. The message from Mecca, the first chapters, is peace and tolerance. The message after Muhammad moved to Medina is War, holy war, arbitrary laws(sharia), and mind-control. This is evil.

The symbol of Christianity is the cross, the symbol of Islam is the crescent moon. Roman Catholics frequently use the crucifix, reminding them of the suffering Christ and His death on the cross. Evangelicals use the empty cross, reminding them of the centrality of the cross. Jesus died on the cross to reconcile us back to Himself, was buried and on the third day rose again from the dead. This is the true Christian message of reconciliation, God seeking man.

This message of reconciliation is anathema to Islam. The Koran denies Jesus died on the cross, it only seemed so to the Jews. The Koran agrees that Jesus ascended to heaven, but directly without death, burial and resurrection. Muslims also believe Jesus will return, but in their belief he will be accompanied by the 12th imam and proclaim Muhammad to be greater than himself and destroy all crosses. Instead, Islam has a set of rules how man can be accepted by Allah.

One of the five pillars of Islam is fasting during the month of Ramadan. It is a hard fast from sunrise to sunset. This year Ramadan starts after sunset June 5 if you are a Sunni, after sunset June 6 if you are a Shi’i (since the new moon must be seen by the Shia leader before Ramadan can be declared). The rules are, pray thus, say that, pray now, don’t pray when the Sun is in Zenith but wait 2 minutes, and so on. Every year Ramadan comes 11 days earlier in the year, so Muslims experience 103 years when we go through 100. Islam is based on a strictly lunar calendar, whereas the rest of the world have either a solar calendar or a Lunisolar calendar with 5 leap months every 19 years, completing a 19 year lunar cycle. This way years and seasons line up.

Islam is based on lunacy, the number 19 is prevalent in Koranic numerology and is the reason for the crescent moon being their main symbol.

There is no least common denominator between Islam and Christianity. Christianity have gone through a transformation since the dark ages where the Church ruled tyrannically. Islam must go through a similar transformation separating mosque and state.

Without that I see no avenue for reconciliation.

Pope Francis compares Christians to ISIS. A Limerick.

The Pope compares Christians with ISIS

The Catholic Church is in crisis.

Jesus said: Go in peace.

may disciples increase.

but ISIS an evil device is.

Pope Francis’ specific words, according to an English interpretation of his comments: “Today, I don’t think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam. It is true that the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam. However, it is also possible to interpret the objective in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.”

The last 3 verses of the Gospel of Matthew states:¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What was Jesus command? The Apostle John quotes Jesus in John 15: ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

The command is not collective, but individual, a shared love, a giving love, and has nothing to do with socialism.

Nor did Jesus ever say: Let the Romans do it.

This is quite a contrast to the way of ISIS. They believe in total state control, under a Caliph.

On Fasting: Fasting for a time or fasting for a purpose?

In his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, General George Washington acknowledged a day of “fasting, humiliation and prayer” proclaimed by the Continental Congress to be held on Thursday, May 6, 1779. This has since been shortened to The National Day of Prayer and is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked “to turn to God in prayer and meditation“. Each year since its inception, the president has signed a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day.

Gone is the humiliation aspect. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds nowadays, to Abraham Lincoln in 1863 it meant: Whereas it is fit and becoming in all people at all times to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God, to bow in humble submission to His chastisements, to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon of their past offenses…

On May 15, 1776, Gen. George Washington ordered:

“The Continental Congress having ordered Friday the 17th instant to be observed as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God, that it would please Him to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and to prosper the arms of the United Colonies, and finally establish the peace and freedom of America upon a solid and lasting foundation; the General commands all officers and soldiers to pay strict obedience to the orders of the Continental Congress; that, by their unfeigned and pious observance of their religious duties, they may incline the Lord and Giver of victory to prosper our arms.”

Times have changed: The 2015 National day of prayer can be simplified to Obama asking for God’s continued guidance, mercy, and protection as we seek a more just world.

Today, the aspect of humiliation is gone. Well, not altogether.

During a speech to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Hillary Clinton lamented that white Americans have a long way to go in realizing all the ways they’ve been given unfair advantages over the nation’s minority populations.

“White Americans must do a much better job of listening when African-Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day,” she said. “We need to recognize our privilege and practice humility rather than assume our experiences are everyone else’s experiences.”

So, I guess humility is not totally dead, it seems to be one of her strong points.

But I wanted to discuss fasting.

Do we fast, and if so, why do we fast?

Let us see what scripture says about the subject. In Zechariah 7:4-5 the prophet wrote: “ Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?

This was a fast for a time. The Muslim world holds a hard fast every Muslim year during the month of Ramadan, their 9th month, and since Islam is a lunar based religion with 12 lunar months making one year, Ramadan occurs 11 days earlier every year. This fast is to commemorate the revelation of the giving of the five mandatory contact prayers to be prayed by everybody at very specific times. As an example, the noon prayer must be started 2 min after the sun is in its zenith. To start it any earlier might offend Allah. This is not really a true fast, it is corporate mind control.

So, what is a true fast? In Isaiah 58:3-6 the prophet writes:

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?
Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And exploit all your laborers.
Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
Is it a fast that I have chosen,
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord?

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Jesus adds a new dimension to fasting. I Matthew 6:16-18 Jesus says:

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Jesus says, when you fast, not if. We are urged to fast, individually, not as part of a group fasting in solidarity, but to seek God’s face, in other words, fast for a purpose.

As we fast, let us fast and pray for a purpose as is stated in 2 Chronicles 7:14

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

APRIL is the cruellest month, but why?

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers. T.S. Eliot.

Other poets have waxed eloquent about April, the return of life to nature, flowers, budding trees, return of the songbirds, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so it really should be a universal cause for celebration.

Maybe it is, although this year we are having an early spring with the forsythias blooming, our apricot tree in full bloom, the cherry blossoms are more beautiful than ever, we are expecting an Arctic cold snap with temperatures back to hard frost, killing the tender new growth.

That could be it, but the real reason is much more sinister.

April 19th is the first day of a 13 day period of time known as “the Blood Sacrifice to the Beast” that culminates on the high occult holy day of Beltane on May 1st. In some parts of the world, Beltane is much better known as “May Day”, and it has been described as the “Illuminati’s second most sacred holiday”.

April 19th is also known as “the Feast of Moloch”. If you are not familiar with “Moloch” or “Molech”, it is an ancient Canaanite god that is repeatedly denounced in the Old Testament. Child sacrifice was a key feature of the worship of Moloch, and a giant statue of this pagan deity is set up at the Bohemian Grove in northern California every year.

On April 19 reproductions of the arch that stood in front of the Temple of Baal are going to be erected in Times Square in New York City and in Trafalgar Square in London. This is also the exact day when a very important occult festival related to the worship of Baal begins.

It seems that this occult festival of Baal is attracting a large number of disasters, but more importantly events and actions that seem to fit the pattern of Baal.

April 16, 1947, a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate docked at the Port of Texas City and erupted in flames, causing a massive explosion that killed approximately 576 people).
April 16, 2007 – Virginia Tech Massacre – 32 killed; 17 injured.called
April 16, 2013 – Boston Marathon Explosions – 3 killed; 107 injured.
April 18, 1906 – The San Francisco Earthquake. The ensuing fire raged uncontrollably for three days resulting in the destruction of over 10,000 acres of property and 4,000 lives lost.
April 18, 2013 – Fertilizer plant explosion, Texas – 5-15 killed (Notice that this event occurred almost exactly 20 years after the Waco Massacre, which is in the same area.
April 19, 1993 – Waco Massacre: An FBI assault lead to the burning down of the compound of a sect named Branch Davidians, killing 76 men, women and children.
April 19, 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing – 168 people killed.
April 20, 1999 – Columbine High School Massacre – 13 people murdered, 21 injured.
April 22, 1970 – 100 year anniversary of the birth of Lenin, also the first Earth day
April 23rd – Established by Israel’s Knesset as Holocaust Day in remembrance of the estimated six million Jews killed by Nazis.
April 24, 1915 – In Asia Minor during World War I, the first modern-era genocide began with the deportation of Armenian leaders from Constantinople and subsequent massacre by Young Turks. In May, deportations of all Armenians and mass murder by Turks began, resulting in the complete elimination of the Armenians from the Ottoman Empire and all of the historic Armenian homelands. Estimates vary from 800,000 to over 2,000,000 Armenians murdered.
April 25, 1967 – The first law legalizing abortion was signed by Colorado Governor John Love, allowing abortions in cases in which a panel of three doctors unanimously agreed.
April 26, 1937 – During the Spanish Civil War, the ancient town of Guernica was attacked by German warplanes. After destroying the town in a three hour bombing raid, the planes machine-gunned fleeing civilians.
April 26, 1986 – At the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, an explosion caused a meltdown of the nuclear fuel and spread a radioactive cloud into the atmosphere, eventually covering most of Europe. A 300-square-mile area around the plant was evacuated. Thirty one persons were reported to have died while an additional thousand cases of cancer from radiation were expected. The plant was then encased in a solid concrete tomb to prevent the release of further radiation.
April 29, 1992 – The Los Angeles Riots that followed the announcement that a jury in Simi Valley, California, had failed to convict four Los Angeles police officers accused in the videotaped beating of an African American man.
May 1st – May Day, a holiday and spring festival since ancient times, also observed in socialist countries as a workers’ holiday or Labor Day.

Verses 80 and 81of the Obama Impeachment song. The Cuba, Belgium connection.

This brings us to verses 80 and 81 of the Obama Impeachment song (as if sung by President Barack Hussein Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”)

While in Cuba, pose with Che

a check-off to my legacy.

do the wave for all to see,

I am but a leader wannabe!

22 Mar 2016, Zaventem, Belgium --- - Attentat à l'aéroport Brussels Airport de Zaventem : les 3 suspects - Aanslag in Brussels Airport: de 3 verdachten 22/3/2016 pict. by Federal Police © Photo News --- Image by © Federal Police/Photo News S.A./Corbis — 22 Mar 2016, Zaventem, Belgium — – Attentat à l’aéroport Brussels Airport de Zaventem : les 3 suspects – Aanslag in Brussels Airport: de 3 verdachten 22/3/2016 pict. by Federal Police © Photo News — Image by © Federal Police/Photo News S.A./Corbis

In the Brussels terror spree

I’m all talk, I am set free

terror is my cup of tea

no way you can now get rid of me!

Here is the complete impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/

Thought for the day. The Pope, The Trump, walls and bridges.

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. (Proverbs 25:28)

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Pope Francis.

The Vatican City’s old wall.

A sign they’re not Christians at all?

For the Pope said as much

about Trump, walls and such.

Humpty Dumpty did fall, I recall.

The moral of this story: Be careful not to make off the wall remarks.

Joking aside, I took a look at how many times the word wall was used in the Bible and where it was used. There are so many tidbits we can learn from a word study. The first is in Leviticus 25: 29-31 ‘Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year. But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generations; it does not revert in the jubilee. The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall shall be considered as open fields; they have redemption rights and revert in the jubilee.

This is old Mosaic law, and gives clear guidance that the law in a protected place with borders is different from the law in places without borders, and property rights are clearly established. As a civil society we no longer follow Mosaic Law, that would be as ridiculous as if anyone demanded we should follow Sharia Law.

Moving on, there are the walls of Jericho, the wall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and the watchmen on the wall.

Then in the New Testament walls are not mentioned at all in the Gospels (In the parable of the tenants in Matthew and Mark it is literally a hedge, not a wall) and only Revelation describes the walls of the new Jerusalem. So the Pope is right, building walls does not appear in the Gospels. Neither does the word bridge appear anywhere in the Bible, so that part is extra-biblical, if one is to take his admonition literally. So if Sarah Palin as Governor refused to build “the bridge to nowhere”, does that make her a non-Christian? (A Limerick from way back comes back to memory)

Sarah Palin did not even think of Nantucket

when plans for that infamous bridge kicked the bucket.

But profligate waste

and spending with haste:

She ordered the spendthriftest Congress to chuck it!

Joking aside, the Pope probably meant spiritual walls and bridges, but by saying it right near the U.S. Mexican border it is easy to assume he meant a literal border. If so, where is the literal bridge?

Thought for the day: Pray for persecuted Christians!

We have been commanded to pray continually, and especially for each other. We usually pray for those nearest us, people we know and are familiar with, including their problems and heart aches. When it comes to people in faraway countries with their different cultures and customs it is not so easy. But it is true that persecution of Christians is increasing, and there are now more Christian Martyrs than at any time in history, and is increasing.

The 2016 World watch list on Christian Persecution is out: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/ and it lists the 50 countries with the strongest persecution of Christians. There are 57 countries participating in the Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC), and makes for interesting reading, since a few of the countries have Christian majorities

What follows is a list of 70 countries to pray for: It consists of the 50 countries on the persecution watch list, and the 57 countries in OIC.

The list contains the name of the country, total population in millions (2014 estimate), Christian population in millions (estimate from Operation World with updates when known), GDP per capita (CIA 2014) and persecution index (from opendoorsusa.org).

First the 37 countries in OIC in order of persecution:

Republic of IRAQ 37 0.3 15,300 92 ISIS Sharia

Islamic Republic of AFGHANISTAN 33 0.001 1,900 88 ISIS Taliban Sharia

SYRIAN Arab Republic 18 0.5 5,100 87 ISIS

Islamic Republic of PAKISTAN 192 4 4,700 87 ISIS Taliban

Republic of SOMALIA 11 0.005 500 87 Failed state

Republic of The SUDAN 41 3 4,300 84 Sharia

Libya 6.3 0.15 15,900 79 ISIS

Republic of YEMEN 27 0.01 3,800 78 ISIS Sharia

Federal Republic of NIGERIA 186 90 6,100 78 ISIS Sharia(north)

Republic of MALDIVES 0.37 0.0003 13,300 76 Sharia

Kingdom of SAUDI ARABIA 32 1 52,300 76 ISIS Sharia

Republic of UZBEKISTAN 30 0.4 5,600 70

Turkmenistan 5 0.1 14,200 65

State of QATAR 2.3 0.2 137,200 65 Sharia

Arab Republic of EGYPT 93 10 10,900 64 ISIS

(State of ) PALESTINE (authority) 5 0.07 4,900 62 HAMAS

BRUNEI-DARUSSALAM 0.5 0.05 79,900 61

Hashemite Kingdom of JORDAN 9 0.2 12,000 59

Republic of DJIBOUTI 0.9 0.04 3,100 58

MALAYSIA 30 2.2 25,100 58

Republic of TAJIKISTAN 9 0.08 2,700 58

Republic of TUNISIA 11 0.02 11,300 58

Republic of AZERBAIJAN 10 0.4 17,800 57

People’s Rep. of BANGLADESH 163 1 3,400 57

People’s Dem. Rep. of ALGERIA 40 0.1 13,900 56 ISIS

Union of The COMOROS 0.8 0.005 1,500 56

State of KUWAIT 4 0.2 70,700 56

Republic of KAZAKHSTAN 18 3.8 24,100 55

Republic of INDONESIA 260 40 10,700 55 ISIS Sharia

Republic of MALI 18 0.25 1,700 55 ISIS

Republic of TURKEY 80 0.25 19,700 55

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 9 0.5 66,300 55 Sharia

Kingdom of BAHRAIN 1.4 0.08 49,000 54

Republic of NIGER 21 0.05 1,100 53

Sultanate of OMAN 4.7 0.08 43,800 53

Then the 20 Islamic Countries not in the top 50 on the persecution index

Republic of ALBANIA 3 1.3 11,400

Republic of BENIN 11 2.5 1,900

BURKINA-FASO (Upper Volta) 19 2.9 1,700

Republic of CAMEROON 24 13 3,000

Republic of CHAD 14 3.2 2,600

Republic of COTE D’IVOIRE 23 7.5 3,100

Republic of GABON 1.8 1.1 20,800

The Islamic Rep. of The Gambia 2 0.06 1,600

Republic of GUINEA 13 0.5 1,300

Republic of GUINEA-BISSAU 1.9 0.2 1,500

Republic of GUYANA 0.8 0.35 6,900

KYRGYZ Republic 6 0.3 3,300

Republic of LEBANON 6 1.3 18,100 ISIS Hezbollah

Kingdom of MOROCCO 34 0.03 7,800 ISIS

Islamic Rep. of MAURITANIA 4 0.004 4,300 Sharia

Republic of MOZAMBIQUE 28 12 1,200

Republic of SENEGAL 15 0.5 2,400

Republic of SIERRA LEONE 6.5 0.6 2,100

Republic of SURINAME 0.5 0.25 16,300

Republic of TOGO 7.5 3 1,500

Republic of UGANDA 40 35 1,900

And finally 13 Non Islamic Countries on the Christian persecution index

North Korea 25 0.5 1,800 92

Eritrea 5 2 1,200 89

Kenya 48 36 3,100 68

India 1326 30 5,800 68

Ethiopia 102 63 1,600 67

Myanmar 54 5 4,800 62

Central African Republic 5 3.5 600 59

Laos 7 0.14 5,000 58

China 1382 105 13,300 57

Tanzania 50 27 2,700 57

Bhutan 3 0.01 7,700 56

Mexico 129 120 18,000 55

Colombia 49 50 13,500 55

Thought for the day: Thank God for pork chops and “frikadeller”.

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. (Acts 15:28-29

The other day we found a whole pork loin selling at $1.59 a pound at Wegmans. We picked it up and my wife made the most wonderful stuffed pork chops. The meat juice, when heavy cream, flour, water and some secret ingredients are added, makes the most wonderful gravy. we had our son and family over last Sunday, and the two year old grand daughter, small for her age as she is, ate almost a whole stuffed pork chop by herself, saying “I like it” over and over again.

Another food I love are Danish “frikadeller”. They are like Swedish meatballs, but bigger and made entirely from ground pork. Properly spiced they are just magnificently delicious. See the picture!

The principal agricultural export product from Denmark is pork in all of its forms. They have the last few years exported more and more to Russia, but a few months ago, after the collapse in oil prices, they suddenly stopped importing Danish pork. The pork mounds grew, filling up the slaughterhouses. What to do?

It is time to introduce pork in the political discussion.

Denmark has received their fair share of mid-eastern immigrants and refugees. They are now so many that they have started to demand they be served certifiably non-pork based food exclusively. Some communities responded by stopping to serve pork altogether in schools and municipal institutions so as not to hurt the feelings of Muslims. Such was the case in Randers, a seaport city in Northern Jutland, a town with a large slaughterhouse, processing pigs for export.

Monday a week ago the city council had enough. They voted (16 to 15) that pork products must be served at all meals in all schools and institutions. The Muslim children can still opt out of their ham and cheese sandwich, taking only cheese on their sandwich.

Yes there is pork in Danish politics. How about good old U.S.A.?

Iowa is holding its annual Pork Congress January 27-28, just before the Iowa caucus. Time for pork politics?

As for me and my house: Thank God for pork chops and “frikadeller”!

alpolitikerne har stemt ja til et forslag fra Dansk Folkeparti og Venstre om, at det skal være et krav hos alle kommunens institutioner, at svinekød skal være en del af madplanen.

Byrådsmedlem i Randers for Velfærdslisten Kasper Fuhr Christensen var et af de 15 byrådsmedlemmer, der stemte nej til forslaget.

Han kalder beslutningen »unødvendig«, fordi der ifølge ham ikke har været problemer på kommunens institutioner.

»Jeg synes, at det er fuldstændig absurd, når der nu ikke har været henvendelser fra utilfredse forældre. Det er et problem, som man har opfundet ud af den blå luft. Det er stor svineståhøj for ingenting,« siger han.

Forslaget om at servere svinekød for både de muslimske og ikke-muslimske børn blev stillet efter, at flere af kommunens institutioner havde valgt at ophøre med at servere svinekød for børnene.

• DF’er i Randers: Frikadelleforslag er blevet misforstået

Et af de steder, hvor man havde valgt at tage hensyn til de muslimske børn ved i stedet at servere halalkød, var Børnehuset Jennumparken, som Jyllands-Posten beskrev sidste år.

Dengang sagde institutionens leder Bente Gråkjær, at det vigtigste ifølge hende ikke var, hvordan kødet blev slagtet, men derimod om børnenen fik en ordentlig kost.

»Der er jo efterhånden også mange etniske danskere, der ikke spiser svinekød. Hos os har vi mange vigtige udfordringer at arbejde med, og så skal maden ikke gøres til en konflikt. Det vigtige er, at børnene får god og nærende kost,« sagde hun.

Muligheden for at forbyde svinekød har institutionerne i Randers Kommune med mandagens beslutning ikke længere. Fremover skal institutionerne i stedet sikre, at »dansk madkultur skal være en del af de kommunale institutioner.«

• Danske muslimer ønsker, at der bliver taget hensyn – men får et nej

Under byrådsmødet stillede medlem af Børn- og skoleudvalget, Mikael Firlings Mouritsen (S), ifølge Randers Amtsavis spørgsmålstegn ved, hvordan en forældrebestyrelse skal kunne forstå begrebet dansk madkultur

Manden bag forslaget, byrådsmedlem for Dansk Folkeparti Frank Nørgaard, understregede dog ifølge Ritzau, at forslaget ikke handlede om mistillid til institutionerne og forældrebestyrelserne.

»Vi vil bare sikre svinekød i vore institutioner til de, der ønsker det. Det handler ikke om generel mistillid til institutionernes bestyrelser. Men flere steder i landet forsøger man at luske igennem, at der ikke skal serveres svinekød i institutioner,« sagde Frank Nørgaard ifølge Randers Amtsavis.

En undersøgelse, som Wilke sidste efterår foretog for Jyllands-Posten, viste dengang, at 83,4 pct. af de danske muslimer mener, at der skal serveres halalslagtet kød i danske vuggestuer, børnehaver og skoler.

Omvendt svarede kun hver fjerde ikke-muslimske dansker, at institutionerne skal tage hensyn til de muslimske børns madvaner.