Paris attacks darkning the world

Dena Johnson last weekend watched in horror as terror unfolded in Paris, France. Bombings. Hostages. Shootings. Innocent people targeted. Her heart broke for the people of Paris.

For lives lost. For lives shattered, forever changed.

Her writing for Christianity.com Daily Update shows unnecessary fear.

As I watched the non-stop news coverage, I began to wonder what kind of world my kids will inherit from us. What dangers are lurking behind every corner? Will they be forced to live in seclusion for their own safety? Will they fear for their lives every time they are on the street? Will they be targeted simply because they choose Christ?

It’s almost more than a mama’s heart can handle. Watching the news on a regular basis makes me fearful for my kids. Gone are the days of solid Christian morals, where seeking to follow Christ is the accepted norm.

The people in France were not targeted because they choose Christ. Many were no believers in Christ or in any god and others worshipped Allah as faithful Muslims.

She thinks the world is invaded by terrorists, but they are still in the minority.
She writes

Citizens struck at a soccer game and a concert. Shootings in the middle of a church service. We even had a beheading last year right here in Oklahoma as a woman simply went about doing her job.

How do we deal with the fear? How do we teach our children to live boldly in an increasingly dangerous world? How do we live in light of the terror that surrounds us? How do we shine our lights for Christ when we know that we could easily be targeted for our faith?

All people who have a strong opinion and or a faith they want to hold on strongly, can be a useful target because the opponent knows they can be hurt. Jesus Christ also warned those who wanted to follow him they would be target of mocking, bullying and even worse having the possibility to having to give their life for their faith.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the dangers and immorality in this world. It’s easy to wonder if God really sees us, understands our plight. It can be confusing to sort through the myriad of emotions, to know where we should stand on certain issues. Do we lean toward compassion or do we choose discernment? Both are present in scriptures. Both are necessary.

Christian, Jew or Muslim should follow their Holy Scriptures and should get to know them properly, knowing we may not kill innocent people and do have to respect every creation of God.

From the beginning of times man riposted. Already very early man went against the commandments of God and let evil come into his heart.

Evil has existed in the human heart since time began. Nothing. Has. Changed.

There’s still incredible evil in this world. And there are still heroes of the faith. While ISIS prowls around looking for lives to devour, God is raising up an army of believers with faith that shines bright. While terror seems to be the constant news of the day, Christians around the world are standing strong in their faith, determined to let their lights shine in the midst of the darkness.

We must trust that God is our salvation, our fortress, watching over and protecting us. We must trust that he sees and knows the truth about this world, about our hearts. We must trust that he has the power to protect us, to rescue us from these very real troubles. We must remain confident that he is able, he is greater than this world.

We must cry out to him for wisdom, discernment, direction. We must seek to know him deeply, intimately. We must strive to follow him, every step, every day. We must wait patiently, expectantly, for him to rescue us. We must cling to every word, every promise, he has made. We must be brave and courageous, knowing that he has overcome the world.

The darker this world gets, the brighter our light shines. Hang on to God, my friends. He is our hope.

The LORD is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.

The one thing I ask of the LORD—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.

Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence. Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.
Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

Psalm 27:1-6, 11-14 (NLT)

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Preceding:

Trump brand of migrant demonization #1

Trump brand of migrant demonization #2 

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Additional reading

1. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
3. Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
4. Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity? 
5. Human tragedy need to be addressed at source 
6. Vatican against Opponents of immigration

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Wrong ideas about religious terrorism

Al-Fatiha Muslim Gays - Gay Parade 2008 in San Francisco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of people do have a wrong idea about the amount of religious terrorism. Most badly affected is the Muslim community which has to cope with the bad name those fools of ISIS do give them.

Belgium and the United Kingdom have seen many people recruited, surprisingly also several women to come to Syria and help the jihad. The present going on series about those recruitments on BBC is a must see.

We can not ignore those militant groups in Muslim countries who make a big effort to radicalise and recruit Muslims living in the West. They even use for it a British girl from Birmingham to do that. West Europe has seen many leaving their capitalist soil for what they call the good cause. The United States of America looked at those happenings with a magnifying glass and got a terrible fear that  large-scale terrorist would strike on their home soil.

Such fears, however, have been largely unfounded, because Muslims in the United States have overwhelmingly ignored the calls to militancy, said Charles Kurzman, a researcher with the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security in North Carolina.

“We have not seen mass radicalization of Muslims in the United States,”

he said.
As part of a Triangle Center study, Kurzman, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill who researches Islamic movements, tallied a total of 250 American Muslims who have been arrested for — or who have engaged in — acts that might be called terrorism since 2001. That’s out of an estimated population of 3 million Muslims in the U.S.

Kurzman’s study found that the death toll as a result of all their plots was 50 — over a period of time in which 200,000 people were murdered in the United States.
Although comparisons are tricky, other studies suggest that right-wing violence claimed more lives in the U.S. than terrorism committed in the name of Islam.

There have been serious attacks, of course.  The 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas and the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon were carried out by Muslim U.S. citizens who claimed to be avenging American military actions overseas.

Though we must not exaggerate such a Muslim violence and should be well aware there is much more intern violence by non-believing people going on. When we look at the figures for Belgium religious violence is negligible with less than 0.14% of more than 700 terrorist attack in one year. The only thing is that often such Muslim fed terrorism gets more attention in the media. Cases as the attack around the Charlie Hebdo got the fantasy of many heads turning wild.

Also in the United States there are less Muslim American terrorism suspects the last few years than two decades ago. Kurzman said the numbers have actually been declining, and over the last couple of years there have been almost no plots aimed at the United States.  Most of those arrested recently on suspicion of terrorism were attempting to travel to Syria or Yemen to join groups that the U.S. government considers terrorist organizations.

David Schanzer, a Duke University expert on homegrown terrorism who directs the Triangle center, said that while federal authorities spend “a disproportionate amount of energy” thinking about domestic terrorism, local police departments across the country have other things on their minds.

“They very much realize that the things that are threats to public safety in their communities are much more things like drugs, gangs, domestic violence,” he said.

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Please find to read:
Acts of Terrorism Very Rare Among US Muslims, Study Finds

Of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something

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Please do find additional reading:

1. Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
2. Atheists, deists, and sleepers
3. Being Religious and Spiritual 2 Religiosity and spiritual life
4. Being Religious and Spiritual 6 Romantici, utopists and transcendentalists
5. Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
6. Economics and Degradation
7. Evil Never Ceases
8. Caricaturing and disapproving sceptics, religious critics and figured out ethics
9. Subcutaneous power for humanity 5 Loneliness, Virtual and real friends
10. A world with or without religion
11. Being Charlie 1, Being Charlie 2, Being Charlie 3, Being Charlie 4, Being Charlie 5, Being Charlie 6,Being Charlie 7, Being Charlie 8, Being Charlie 9, Being Charlie 10, Being Charlie 11
12. It’s beautiful to watch the spread of #JeSuisCharlie across the world,
13. Where do we stand in the backdrop of Charlie Hebdo Massacre ?,
14. Charlie Hebdo, offensive satire and why ‘Freedom of Speech’ needs more discussion
15. Faith because of the questions
16. Religion, fundamentalism and murder
17. Religion…..why the competition?
18. Shariah and child abuse – Is there a connection?
19. Why is it that Christians don’t understand Muslims and Muslims do not understand Christians?
20. Apartheid or Apartness #1 Suppression and Apartness
21. Leaving the Old World to find better pastures
22. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #2 Roots of Jewishness
23. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #3 Of the earth or of God
24. Collision course of socialist and capitalist worlds
25. Robertson: God says U.S. will accept socialism
26. Christian fundamentalism as dangerous as Muslim fundamentalism
27. The imaginational war against Christmas
28. Autumn traditions for 2014 – 4 Blasphemy and ridiculing faith in God
29. Still Hope though Power generating long train of abuses
30. Europe and much-vaunted bastions of multiculturalism becoming No God Zones
31. 112314 – A Peculiar People
32. Maker of most popular weapon asks for repentance
33. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
34. Science, 2013 word of the year, and Scepticism
35. 2013 Lifestyle, religiously and spiritualy
36. 2014 Religion
37. Not many coming out with their community name
38. Truth, doubt or blindness
39. A Church without Faith!
40. Inequality, Injustice, Sustainability and the Free World Charter
41. Re-Creating Community
42. Daniel Guérin: Three Problems of the Revolution (1958)
43. The trigger of Aurora shooting
44. Intellectual servility a curse of mankind

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• Do You Have to be a Muslim to be a Terrorist?

God Watches

Is the world out of control? Sometimes it seems like it when we live in fear of terrorists, global warming, financial insecurity and minority groups that rise to power. Our futures seem so unpredictable, especially as violence and crime rise - even in our own neighbourhoods. But Zechariah has a message for us today that will help set our hearts at peace.

"For the eye of the LORD is on all mankind as well as on the tribes of Israel." (Zech 9:1[mg]) God knows exactly what is going on in the world we live in. He knew what it would be like before we experienced it, and he has a plan for the future that will right all the wrongs that are currently happening. God's plan is detailed in the rest of Zechariah 9 where he explains that he will send his King, Jesus, to proclaim peace to the nations, to save his people and to destroy God's enemies.

Hews prating at tomb of Zechariah. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The world may seen like it is out of control, but with God's watchful eye overseeing everything that happens, he will not let it go too far but will intervene at just the right time to save us from destruction. So let's not let ourselves be worried about the things that are happening. God said they would. Instead let them strengthen our faith and make us look forward all the more eagerly to the return of Christ.

- Robert Prins

Dutch translation / Nederlandse vertaling > God Kijkt toe

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2013 update:

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