Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - April 24

Six regulars gathered at Kitty's to pray.

We started with feedback from the prayer walk led by Hank on Friday evening on State Street. Three people had moved slowly up the street, stopping to pray at major buildings, and culminating at the place marked by a plaque which indicated that DL Moody had been converted there on the same day in 1855. Hank and David had gone on to join the Tremont Temple prayer gathering, where they found Bob. The meeting had been very different from what was expected: only around 70 people, far from the expected crowd, had met to pray, worship and hear from some of the area leaders. These insights had in themselves made the evening worthwhile, as these pastors spoke of their sense that revival had started in the heavenly realms, although not necessarily in the way which man might expect: rather than by gathering crowds of believers for times of refreshing, they spoke of how this revival was ‘for the harvest’ and how the church was called to act like John the Baptist in these days, preparing the way of the Lord. We were encouraged to be intentional and bold, while healing and strengthening the body. David shared the picture of trench warfare which had in some ways characterized the church’s external ministry—brief sorties across no man’s land, with little change of the front lines for a long time. However, the ‘weapons of mass deliverance’ of which we had prayed previously could cause the enemy trenches to be abandoned unexpectedly; and that, if we went over the parapet, we could find the ground undefended and ready to be taken. We discussed fear and boldness for a while.

In prayer, we were reminded of God’s great forgiveness extended to us all. We specially remembered G’s family, asking that he would have the wisdom and insight to minister forgiveness, which would bring healing to family members and relationships. We prayed too for J’s recent job interview—that God would bless her boldness in the interview and open doors for her in work.

We continued to pray for Kitty’s, following news of impending changes to the upstairs area: that God would bless the business and all who patronized it; and continue to provide a place for prayer and ministry.

Judas: A Saint for Our Seasons

From Gerard @ American Digest.org, some articulate insight into modern-day betrayal, treason, sin, shame & guilt:

Have you ever betrayed your promise?
Did you ever break a vow?
Have you traded love for money,
And are you happy now?

Did you kiss him in the garden,
And then abandon him to fate?
Is your final sin forgiven,
Or is it far too late?

WHEN IT COMES TO DISCOVERING new ways to cheapen the human soul, the "professional intellectuals" of our society have cornered the market. So it was last week when, timed carefully to cash in on the Easter holiday, the "serious" editors of National Geographic chose to release their gleanings from a sheaf of rags and call them "The Gospel of Judas."

....But beyond these considerations, the publication of the "Gospel" of Judas has another, deeper and more lasting benefit to our neophytes of nihilism. It puts one of the final elements of their anti-morality play at center stage. It seeks to sanctify treason.

It was never a question of "if," but only a question of "when" our contemporary society would discover an avatar who would make treason acceptable. It only codifies the realities of their secular belief system. Treason against others or one's country has long been as common as adultery in this country. Like adultery the rate of treason is on the rise because, like adultery and similar forms of personal betrayal, it no longer has any consequences at all.

It is true that the federal crime of treason is not easily established and is rarely if ever charged. But the formal crime of treason is not what I am discussing here. Rather the more common, garden variety of treason as understood by plain people -- the rabid and unremitting hatred, expressed in word or deed, of the country that gives you the freedom express your hatred. It is the treason of the ingrate, the soul-dead, the politically perverted, and the bitter; it is, as Roger Kimball at The New Criterion discusses, the treason of the intellectuals and "the undoing of thought."

It's a fact of our self-centered contemporary existence that betrayal has become one of the common forces that shape our lives. For when our own desires ride us like a drunken demon lodged on our shoulders, betrayal is the first order of the day when others seek to thwart our desires, or even when others become a mere inconvenience to our wants and whims.

Final Exams

For some time now, God is been telling us that we are in a time of preparation. As He has said, He is preparing the hearts of a few (us), for He will soon be bringing many. The time of preparation is almost over. We will soon be on the stretch for Him, as George Whitefield put it, stretched as never before. We can do it. We have Him, and we have each other.

You have been faithful in the little things I have given you; now I am about to bestow on you great things and great responsibilities. Everything to this point has been a test. You have passed them to my satisfaction. Some of them, you had to take over “more than once” but you have passed, and you are ready for the next step.

It is a time of great preparation, of rapid review of everything I have taught you. For you are about to enter your final exams. Spring break is over, and it is time to bear down. Do so with joy. I will help you prepare. I will make sure nothing is lost or overlooked. I will guide your studies in these final precious weeks. I have not brought you this far, I have not invested in you all that I have, I have sustained you through all your adversities, to abandon you now, or leave you in any way comfortless.

Take my hand, as you have so often in the past, and let me lead you to the table I have prepared for you, in the presence of my enemies. For I shall anoint your head with oil, and I shall fill your cup to overflowing, and you shall dwell in my house forever.

A week from Friday, the Noon Hour is going Prime Time. On Friday, the 21st, from 7:30 till 9:00 PM at Tremont Temple, we are having our first evening prayer time. Ask Him, if He would have you be among that number. If He wants you to come, then you must come, no matter what roadblock the other one might put in your path, or sudden 'emergency' he might throw at you, to keep you from coming. If God wants you there, He will clear the way for you to come. And please, bring every friend you can.

-David Manuel

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - April 10

Five regulars gathered at Kitty's to pray. Four of us had been at the Sacred Assembly at Franklin Field the day before, and we shared our observations of the afternoon.

In prayer, we were grateful for the gathering—for the weather, which had turned out so well; for the organizers, and for all who came. We also gave thanks for the students and others who had faithfully prayed during the recent JHOP 40 days of prayer. We prayed, too, for First Baptist Church in Cambridge, which had allowed them use of its premises: that the church would be filled with new worshippers. As usual, we also prayed for Kittys. We asked for guidance about the Alpha course going forward; and we prayed for the 80 or more people who have joined in prayer in this space over the period of close to two years since prayer started.

As we prayed, we remembered the recent spate of confusing and sometimes directly misleading publications—from Judas Diaries to the forthcoming da Vinci code movie. We asked that such media would only make people thirstier for the pure, living water which alone can quench thirst; and indeed, we prayed for ‘raging thirst’ on the part of all who read or saw them.

We asked that Holy week would be holy in new ways to people who had lost all sense of its meaning; and were emboldened to pray that Jews celebrating Passover this week would also be drawn to Messiah. Bob mused before the Lord how wonderful it would be if the revival to come was led by the Chosen people of Boston, who had come to know Messiah.

We also remembered our families, especially J’s mother. We also continued to lift up the changing work situations of J and K.

Some of us were also struck by different images of water flowing in the city: whether from dams and reservoirs which were broken open by divine action, flooding the streets, and being sucked into and out of the top of tall buildings; or whether gushing from underground reservoirs which had been blocked, and which were now being re-opened as people dug deep down by seeking God’s face, and removed the debris which had clogged their own wells. In the spirit of ‘weapons of mass deliverance’ from several weeks ago, Bob spoke of the dam buster bomb, which was developed to break down dam walls in World War 2. Hank noted that, after launch, the bomb took time to bounce, then sink and explode against the dam wall. So too, we have to wait in faith for the cracks to widen and show following the recent intensified spiritual warfare in Boston. Andrea reminded us that it only takes a small crack to start the process of a large dam wall splitting.

-David P.

Abdul Rahman thanks Pope Benedict for safe sanctuary

AP: Thursday March 30, 2006

ROME - An Afghan man who had faced the death penalty in his homeland for converting from Islam to Christianity said Thursday he was certain he would have been killed if he had remained in Kabul and thanked Pope Benedict XVI for intervening on his behalf.

"In Kabul they would have killed me, I'm sure of it." Abdul Rahman, who is under protection after being spirited out ofAfghanistan to a secret location in Italy earlier in the week, told Italian journalists. "If you are not a Muslim in an Islamic country like mine they kill you, there are no doubts."

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Meanwhile, at Frontpagemagazine, Serge Trifkovic, former BBC commentator and US NEWS and World Report reporter, points to the 50 million Christians killed for their faith throughout the world in the past century:

when Christians are routinely mistreated and killed by our other trusted friends and allies of the United States in the region - notably Pakistan, Egypt, and even the "secular" Turkey - you don't hear about it, there are no vigils, no protests, no offers of asylum. In Pakistan, murders, endemic discrimination, and constant harassment of Christians - who are mainly poor and account for a mere one percent of the population - is persistent. Any dispute with a Muslim - most commonly over land - can become a religious issue. Christians are routinely accused of "blasphemy against Islam," an offense that carries the death penalty as Pakistan has some of the strictest blasphemy laws in the Muslim world. Charges of blasphemy can be made on the flimsiest of evidence - even one man's word against another - and since it is invariably a Muslim's word against that of a Christian, the outcome is preordained.