Gospel For Asia: Christian Charity Needed In Northwest India and Bangladesh

Imagine having half
of your home collapse, your belongings washed away or your fields—your
only source of livelihood—completely destroyed. This is the situation
faced by thousands of people in Northwest India and Bangladesh right
now. In one area, Gospel for Asia missionaries are doing everything
they can to reach out to the people who suffered such devastation. They
recently gathered food for the needy and distributed it to 458 families
who lost their homes and belongings.

Click here to see a PhotoShow of the outreach

Your prayers and
gifts are making a difference, bringing food, comfort and hope to those
in total despair. I pray that you will be encouraged as you see all
that the Lord is doing because of your faithfulness.

Yours for the unreached,

K.P. Yohannan
Founder & President

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Gospel For Asia Asks For Help For Victims Of Bangladesh Cyclone!

To receive regular updates about how God is moving in Asia, please visit

www.gfa.org/emailupdate

The people of Bangladesh–including hundreds of our believers there–have been dealt another devastating blow and desperately need our prayers to sustain them.

Still recovering from the worst floods to hit their South Asian country in 30 years, Bangladesh was devastated by Cyclone Sidr on Thursday, leaving more than 2,000 people dead at last count. In some areas, 95 percent of the rice crop was destroyed. And for these simple farmers, that means they are literally penniless and without hope for the future.

That’s why our GFA native missionaries are already on the scene, ministering to the victims and bringing them the hope found only in Jesus.

But even as our missionaries, pastors and Compassion Services volunteers are moving to bring help to the victims, they have reported that in one district, more than 100 homes of GFA-related church families have been destroyed by the Category 4 storm–the most destructive to hit Bangladesh in a decade.

“Many people are thought to have been killed when trees fell on their houses,” reported one GFA observer.

I am asking that pastors around the world bring this situation to the attention of their church members on Sunday morning, and that all Christians will join me in praying that God’s grace will be poured out on those who have lost so much.

I also ask that you please pray with me about how God would use you to bring relief to the victims. Any gift you can send today will make a difference!

Please also remember our church members who are suffering as a result of this storm, and those who are working around the clock to bring relief in Christ’s name to the victims.

Thank you for standing with us as we minister to those whose lives have been so devastated. Click here to make a gift to help the victims of this storm.

Please pray with me that God will use this situation to bring many into His kingdom of grace and love. So that you can continue to pray with us, we will be bringing you updates on this situation in the coming days onwww.gfa.org

Yours for the lost of Asia,

K.P. Yohannan Founder & President

Gospel For Asia Helping Flood Victims

Please help: gfa.org/donation

Dozens of our Gospel for Asia native missionaries are reaching out to victims of India’s worst monsoon floods in more than 30 years.In one district in the Indian state of Assam alone, at least 50,000 people were impacted by the floods. Many of our friends like you have responded generously to bring the hope found in Jesus Christ to some of the millions who have lost everything in these floods. Yet until recently, it was impossible to even reach them because the rampaging waters had washed out roads and all avenues of communication.

As soon as it was possible, however, our missionaries who already work in Assam and other areas sprang into action. Working with GFA Compassion Services teams, they have already delivered relief supplies to three of the area’s hardest-hit villages. The missionaries and Compassion Services teams also took time to counsel with the people, hearing how they struggled to survive in the flood and its aftermath. The missionaries then shared the Gospel and prayed with the people.

Click here to see our first PhotoShow report about how our GFA Compassion Services relief teams are assisting the victims of the floods in Assam.

The people in these villages were deeply thankful that someone cared enough to come and help them. More than one told our team members that the relief supplies were a “real gift from God.”

Assam is just one of the states affected by the flooding rain that blanketed the region from late July to mid-August. There are thousands of families still in need of help, and we are committed to being there for the long haul. Just as in the wake of the tsunami and other disasters, GFA Compassion Services takes a phased approach to helping, with emergency relief the first step, then moving into longer-term ministry. Through all of the phases, the Good News of Jesus Christ is presented as the ultimate solution to the problems the people face.

And as in the past, God moves mightily among the people as they discover a hope they never thought possible.

GFA missionaries and local believers will continue reaching out to these victims. In many areas, outside groups are not allowed to come in and deliver aid to those who need it so badly. The missionaries, however, are free to work in these villages, because in most cases, they already have churches established nearby.

Thank you for standing with the people of Asia during this difficult time. Please continue to pray for them as they are facing many more months of rebuilding their villages and their lives.

Yours for the lost of Asia, K.P. Yohannan Founder & President gfa.org

Pat Robertson FALSELY Calls Christian Persecution Our Greatest Threat!

See this link: cbn.com/cbnnews/221156.aspx

As usual, Robertson has it all wrong. The Bible says for us to pay no heed to those that persecute us; indeed to pray for them that spitefully misuse us (see ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/fs/fs_09.htm). Also, Acts 5:40-41 shows us that the early church thanked God for their persecution! Jesus Christ said that if He was maltreated, should not we be so? Is the servant (us) greater than the master (Christ)? Facing persecution is evidence that we are actually serving God! The person who suffers persecution in God’s Name should thank God for it. The person who is suffering no persecution (or is suffering as a result not of God’s actions but his own) is the one that should seek God urgently, not for persecution, but so that such a person would have a relationship with God and learn how to obey Him, not for the persecution’s sake, but for God’s sake.

I talk about persecution on this weblog not for the “woe is us woe is us!” factor, but rather to show Christians what real Christianity is, and what real Christianity should be girding themselves up to expect both in this time and in the time of great sorrows to come. Now though I am a post - tribulationist and this is not to be taken as a direct criticism of pre - tribulationism itself, it is false teachers like Robertson in their pretending that Christian persecution is in any way exceptional - rather than something that is to be expected by the people of God living in a world that hates and has rejected God - that create the false image that Christians will be taken out of this world in the rapture before anything bad really happens to us.  So, in this respects, the notion of “God is going to come get us before anything really bad starts happening to us” is not the false doctrine of pre - tribulationism per se, because even the time leading up to and immediately preceding the seven official years of the great tribulation is supposed to be mighty terrible for Christians and everyone else, and Jesus Christ says this in Matthew 24 (which incidentally also makes it obvious that pre - tribulationism is false, see Correlating Don Imus, Christians, Blacks, Women, And The Rapture). But this notion that God has this obligation to save us before we Christians - especially the ones in the west that are used to freedom, wealth, and the pleasures and cares of the world - have to so much as get a hangnail is precisely the source of a lot of this false “Christian Zionism” doctrine preached by the likes of Robertson, John Hagee, and so many leading televangelists.

So unlike some people that take a much stronger view against pre - tribulation as in Mike Ratliff’s article What is the Great Delusion?, claiming that it is the problem itself, I take the view that it is people like Robertson that weave pre - tribulationism into the larger overall context of false doctrines that is the problem. And few are better at this than Robertson, who as usual, is playing on the fears and emotions of Christians.

So no, Christians, our greatest threat does NOT come from those that hate and persecute us, and that includes even the anti - Christ, the beast, the man of sin whom your tribulation doctrine denies that Christians will have to face. Instead, our greatest threat is INTERNAL, coming from those who traffic in false doctrines to serve the false god of mammon (money and power) like the billionaire Robertson (who has his malleable appointees all over the Bush administration Was Monica Goodling Taken Advantage Of By Pat Robertson and George Bush?) and Hagee, who is making a direct play for Robertson’s money and power (and see The Rapture Cult - Its Power, Influence and Secret agenda, though I do not endorse everything in it).

But do not let these false preachers scare you. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior follow the The Three Step Salvation Plan. If you have, then follow true Bible - based Christianity so that you will not be vulnerable to the deceptions of false preachers and teachers.

To All Defenders Of Juanita Bynum, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, And Other False Preachers: The Cult Of “Do Not Judge”

Read: When They Pierced His Side: The Blood And Water Of Jesus Christ

This is courtesy of Brother Dennis Thompson. Brother Dennis Thompson and I do not agree on everything (see his comment and my response on spiritual warfare) but his comment on An Expose Of Just How Bad Juanita Bynum And Thomas Weeks Are to the many Juanita Bynum defenders on it called The Cult of”DO NOT JUDGE” was too outstanding to remain a mere response to a weblog post: it deserved the spotlight in its own right. Since an Internet search did not turn up the original document in a weblog or website, I will provide the text of Brother Thompson’s comments here. And if you are not saved through Jesus Christ, please follow The Three Step Salvation Plan so that you can be. Salvation can be yours today!

The cult of “Do not Judge”

This article is being written on behalf of all the ministries and people that defend the faith with the truth and are accused of judging because they test those who teach falsely with the Word of God.

The premise-Does God tell us not to judge?
The Bibles answer-No He does not.

John 7:24 Jesus says: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” What Jesus does tell us is not to judge by our own opinions, but instead judge by the word of God, that is what it means to judge righteously. He always encouraged the people to judge. God told Israel to judge the prophets in the Old Testament. He had the true prophets judge the false but the people reacted saying the very same things people are saying today. Your being negative oh you never have anything good to say. In the New Testament we are told to judge prophecy, to discern, to test the spirits and we are told to test ALL things. We are told to do this because it helps keep us away from what is false and evil. The apostle Paul showed us how to judge so there would be no second guesswork. The apostle Paul said, “If anyone preaches another gospel let him be accursed” Would anyone say to Paul’s face “your judging.” In 2 Thess. 3:14-15 “And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” Strong guidelines that many avoid to do today. These are done not to condemn but to bring repentance and restoration.

Lets let God decide whose right or wrong. Does this sound familiar? Except this particular statement was from a Muslim. But it can be anyone from any religion. Even Christians say we should not pursue a matter to find the truth. I realize that when one’s favorite teacher or leader is questioned the initial human response can be one of agitation and turn to over emotionalism. But when feelings do not subside and escalate into anger, rage, and maliciousness, it is not godly at all. Despite that they believe they have a cause to protect their teacher, it is not advantageous for anyone to have their emotions rule if they are trying to arrive at the truth.

There has been a trend going on for a number of years that has dulled the spiritual senses of the church and leavened the convictions of many a Christian. It has risen to new heights as of late where if anyone has anything to say about another they are told, “Don’t judge, “touch not my anointed” “do my prophets no harm” etc. Maybe if some of the people that quote these verses would look at what they actually say “in context,” they wouldn’t have such flawed arguments, they would not find themselves becoming entangled emotionally. Its not just finding a few words to prove a position, but what do they mean in the Scripture in its context and can they apply to us today.

What is ironic is that to tell people they are judgmental is to judge them. What people are doing is recommending for us not to judge by the word of God, but dispense with any discernment, just like they do it. Some even threaten and curse those who test because they cannot deal with the Scriptural proof presented to them. Christians are not to threaten or curse others because they disagree. Neither should they be warning that they are going to prayer, as though God will answer their prayer of vengeance and avenge the persons teaching that was examined and found false. The facts more often than not are; those who say not to judge are incredibly more judgmental then those they accuse of judging.

One person wrote, “Whether _______ is right or wrong is not up to you to discuss with anyone.” Lets look at this illogical statement. Now we can never discuss doctrine and peoples teachings. This means they too cannot discuss anything that they think, even if it is beneficial! But Heb.6:1-3 tells us we can discuss doct