October 2005 – Page 2 – Maxson Central

04/10/2005

Ramadan

For those who don’t know, today is the first day of Ramadan. If you want to learn more about Ramadan, follow this link. In a nutshel, fasting during daylight during Ramadan earns a Muslum good points on his (or her) way to paradise.

As a Christian, I have felt called to pray especially for Muslims at this time. So, I went looking for an online prayer guide I could use. I found a group called 30 Days that has one. The prayer guide (and other material) can be found .

The International Mission Board also has a Mulsim Prayer Calendar for Muslims. It isn’t specific to Ramadan, but can be used at any time: Call to Prayer: Interceding on behalf of Muslims for their Salvation 31 day prayer calendar.

[Update 2012-12-26 15:10:17] The about Ramadan link on the 30 days site changed. I updated it.

02/10/2005

Your Own Card Catalog

Do you have books or do you have a library? For those who know Cyndi and I know we have a library (last count 5 normal bookshelves chock full of books and that is only half). I came across this library/card catalog site you can use yourself. I'm thinking about signing up for the free trial. If so, I'll let everyone know what I think.

02/10/2005

Christian Massacre?

According to WorldNetDaily.com, there is a website showing video of Christians martyered for their faith.

An American-hosted soft porn Internet site also doubles as a cyber home for radical Islamic video propaganda.

One approximately six-minute video housed on the Japanese site which we will not list because it so horrendous. Titled, "The Ambon Massacre," it starts with a picture of the ocean waves lazily lapping at dusk.

The scene soon shifts to video of a burning building and people being massacred. Then viewers see rows of dead bodies covered with newspaper, followed by scenes of burning, decimated houses.

The horrifying footage is followed by graphic video of burned, dead bodies with holes in their heads, as well as chopped off body parts. The dead include babies and the mutilated corpses of young people with gaping holes in their necks.

02/10/2005

Cuba and Church

Well, it seems Cuba has joined the ranks of those nations persecuting the church. According to this article on Worthy News, Cuba is instituting new rules for house churches.

Government regulations aimed at curbing the growth of Christian house churches in Cuba took force on September 22, sparking fears that evangelical Protestants on the island could face a period of heightened persecution.

If strictly enforced, the measure would seriously restrict freedom of assembly and the right to propagate one’s faith.

“The growth of the house churches themselves has brought this on,” one Havana pastor said. “The authorities are saying: ‘the church has gotten out of hand.’”

Those opinions were expressed earlier this year, after the Cuban Ministry of Justice released “Resolution No. 46: Instructions for the Request, Procedure and Authorization to Celebrate Worship Services in Dwellings of Personal Property.” Published last March, the resolution granted a six-month grace period for church groups to acquaint themselves with the regulations and take steps to comply. The grace period officially ended September 22.

02/10/2005

Tract

I have been developing a witnessing tract that people could download and print. Well, it is finally complete–content wise. I just need to get the page layout complete so I can get it as a downloadable PDF. Once it is available, I'll post a notice here and link to it in my store.

02/10/2005

Disaster Relief Trip

Cyndi and I have volunteered to go with the SBC of Virginia the last week of October. We called our church contact after training and told him our avialability. So far, we haven't heard anything back yet. Hopefully that will change…I'm excited about going down.

02/10/2005

FEMA and Churches

On the internet last week, I heard rumours about FEMA wanting to reemburse churches for their disaster relief help. Here is a collection of articles:

Say it Isn't So — FEMA to Reimburse Churches for Aid?
FEMA Plans to Reimburse Faith Groups for Aid
NAMB to FEMA — No Thanks!

I'm glad that NAMB has already said no.

02/10/2005

More on the “Fast” Bible

On September 22nd, I posted about "the fast Bible". Today, I was catching up on my blog reading when I noticed that Dr. Mohler had also posted about this on his blog. I just thought this was interesting and wanted to give everyone else the chance to read what he said.

The 100-Minute Bible is the perfect symbol of our age of truncated attention spans and rampant biblical illiteracy. At the current rate of declining interest and literacy, 100 minutes will soon be unacceptably long.

The Bible Cut Down to Size — Scripture and the Modern Attention Span

01/10/2005

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Voice of the Martyrs is calling for an International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church on 13 November of this year. I'm going to encourage my church to do something special on this day…why don't you do the same?

01/10/2005

Prayerwalking

Today, I felt like I ought to start prayerwalking around where we live. While I was doing that, it struck me that I ought to track this somehow. I had a map of Richmond, so I could highlight it, but then I thought why not do it on the computer. So, that is what I did. Below are some thumbnails if you want to track my progress.

[Update 2012-12-26 16:24:18] I moved these images over to flickr