The Last Ounce of Courage Opens This Weekend

by Doug Phillips at Vision Forum

Some very dear friends have labored long and hard to put a film in the theaters this weekend which they hope will encourage many to stand against the tide of indifference in the face of the Marxism and anti-Christian bigotry which is redefining the public square. The film which features many home educators is called “The Last Ounce of Courage” will be opening on more than a thousand screens this weekend. I intend on taking my own family and want to encourage you to do the same. Here is a write-up I received on the film which I am sharing with you:

”...It is a heart warming Christian movie that your whole family can enjoy. All of the lead actors are Christians and Jennifer O’Neill is also a well known speaker at pro-life events. What we did not know until today is that this movie was produced and promoted primarily by home school dads from Texas and Oklahoma. In addition, two of the young lead actors have home schooled. This is a great opportunity to support God-honoring entertainment. Last Ounce of Courage is enthusiastically backed and endorsed by Dr. James Dobson, AFA, Brad Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ), Chuck Norris (only movie ever to get his seal of approval), etc....Please know that a strong opening weekend is VITAL to ensure that the movie and its message will continue in the theaters. You might also utilize email and/or social media communication to your friends and family and workplace. Consider purchasing tickets as a gift for a group, i.e. military families, soldiers, veterans, church groups, schools, family, friends, etc. To purchase tickets for September 14th, 15th or 16th and to find theaters in your area go to: http://www.standusa.com/last-ounce-of-courage/ Please see Last Ounce of Courage this weekend!!!”

 

Raising the Bar

Are churches making following Jesus too easy? Where's the call to count the costs?
By Drew Dyck at Out of Ur

I recently stumbled across an interesting set of questions. They are used by Asian Access (A2), a Christian missions agency in South Asia, to determine a new convert’s readiness to follow Christ. In the West, we might ask newcomers if they prefer contemporary or traditional worship. As you can see, the questions they ask in other parts of the world are a little different. Here they are:

Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
Are you willing to lose your job?
Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?
Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
Are you willing to go to prison?
Are you willing to die for Jesus?

 Besides making me feel very grateful for where I live (and slightly guilty for feeling grateful) the questions sounded familiar. I heard an echo of Jesus’ words from Luke 14. You know the passage. Jesus spins around to the people following him and says, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

That’s my paraphrase, of course. What Jesus actually said was much worse. If you want to be my disciple, you have to hate your family, take up your cross, count the cost, give up everything—real crowd-pleasing stuff.

It’s tempting for me to dismiss these radical demands. Jesus’ challenge seems harsh, even bizarre. But hey, we’ll file that one under “divine prerogative.” And the A2 questions? Well, those are necessitated by persecution. In a country (name withheld for security reasons) where converts and evangelists get jailed, weeding out the phonies is essential.

Still, I’m not so sure there isn’t a lesson here for those of us in the West. Could we benefit from raising the bar for those considering a commitment to Christ?

For the most part, we have specialized in doing the exact opposite. We talk about smoothing the path to God, and removing obstacles to faith. Every time I question the validity of a “soft touch” public ministry, I’m assured they have a solid discipleship program on the back end. But that strikes me as backwards. “Hey, come to church and you’ll have a better family. OK, now that you’re here, you have to die to yourself.”

I think that’s called a bait and switch.

What would happen if, like Jesus and A2, we put the hard demands of the gospel front and center? If we dispensed with slick campaigns and puffed up promises and gave people the unvarnished truth of what it means to follow Jesus? If we told them that sometimes following the Carpenter from Nazareth means donning your own crown of thorns? I’m sure it would cost us numbers up front, but would it be worth it in the end? I think it would be. How about you?
 

Follow up to Jailed Christian in Afghanistan...May God be PRAISED!!!

JAILED CHRISTIAN CONVERT IN AFGHANISTAN FREED

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — 

An Afghan man who was jailed for nine months for converting to Christianity has been released after an intense campaign by international diplomatic missions and Christian activists, an official said Friday.

Sayed Mussa, a 46-year-old father of six, left a Kabul jail earlier this week and was taken to see Afghan prosecutors, who did not have enough evidence to charge him, said Gen. Abdul Qayum Safi, director of the detention center.

Aidan Clay, regional manager for the International Christian Concern, cheered Mussa’s release but said another convert, Shoaib Assadullah, was still in detention in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Assadullah was arrested in October after allegedly giving a copy of a Bible to a friend.

“It has been encouraging to see the international community, including churches, reporters and government officials in Europe and North America work together for the common goal of freeing Sayed,” he said. “Many sleepless nights, prayers and tears have paid off, however, the battle has not yet been won. Shoaib is still imprisoned in northern Afghanistan and fears the death penalty.”

In a Feb. 13 letter, disclosed by International Christian Concern, Mussa said representatives of the U.S. and Italian embassies in Kabul visited him in the detention center and offered him asylum. Mussa wrote that after the foreigners left the room, three Afghan officials told him he would be released within 24 hours if he signed a statement saying he regretted his conversion to Christianity. Mussa refused.

“I laughed and replied ‘I can’t deny my savior’s name,’” Mussa wrote in the letter. “I am 100 percent ready to die.”

The Christian group said they received a call from a U.S. official in Kabul on Monday, confirming that Mussa had been released and was safely out of Afghanistan.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul had no immediate comment on Mussa’s release.

Mussa, a slight man with salt-and-pepper hair and beard, was arrested in late May after an Afghan television station broadcast images of alleged Christian baptisms in Kabul. Proselytizing is illegal in Afghanistan.

A number of Afghan Christians fled the country after the broadcast, but Mussa was arrested before he could get away. His case made it into the news after a group of international Christian activists pressed their governments to push Afghan President Hamid Karzai to release Mussa and the other convert.

Afghanistan is an Islamic state but the country’s constitution is unclear on whether Christian converts are breaking the law. The document says freedom of religion should be protected, but it also states that the ultimate authority in legal matters is the Muslim holy book, the Quran, which condemns conversion.

Mussa recounted his conversion in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month at the detention center. He was wearing a brown zip-up sweater, gray shalwar kameez and plastic yellow sandals and had a prosthesis on his left leg – the result of a mine explosion 23 years ago when he was a young army officer in southern Afghanistan.

Mussa said his move to Christianity began during the Afghan civil war when the house of his neighbor, a porter with eight children, was bombed.

He saw two foreign women arrive in a white vehicle who were not afraid to search through the rubble despite the presence of armed men nearby.

“Many tried to hide, but the women didn’t,” said Mussa.

He was curious about the women, who were able to find one person alive in the rubble. He later learned they were Christian aid workers who helped Afghans in a clinic.

That prompted Mussa to learn more about the Christian faith. He met a man named Mohammad Hussein, who had recently returned from Iran and was a Christian convert. Mussa pressed him for religious books and other information about Christianity.

In the interview, Mussa said that if he was freed, he would rejoin his wife and children, who are living with a brother in Pakistan.

“I want to have a normal life again,” he said. “Of course I love all my children. And I’d like to see them.”

“I will stay here in Afghanistan and will ask my family to come home,” he said.

—Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.