The Snow Covers Many a Dunghill by Thomas Watson

The Snow Covers Many a Dunghill by Thomas Watson

The snow covers many a dunghill. A snowy white profession covers many a foul heart! The sins of professors are more odious. Thistles are bad in a field—but worse in a garden. The sins of the wicked anger God—but the sins of professing Christians grieve him. ~ The Great Gain of Godliness

This writing involves all ancidotal observations and is really kind of a journal entry I want to keep in my blog space. Anyway since being regenerated by the Lord and humbled along the way by trials and tribulations (the Christian's life is never completely at ease whilst in this world) I have come across many a professing Christian who claim to know our Lord Jesus Christ but do things that make me very puzzled about their profession. I say this without any pride but only with great sadness. I try not to judge them and give them grace but too often I put up with behaviour that isn't beneficial to be around. Some these people have been close friends for a time. With some of these friends I have had to walk away from because they were not a good example and I didn't see the Lord using me as an instrument of change whilst others I am still friends with but there is a distance I feel because they don't walk in the way of the Lord. All of this does add to the tediousness of being in the body of Christ. So many of the people cry 'the Bible says to not judge us' yet it does call us to be discerning and to separate from professing Christians who are in deep sin (drunkenness, sexual sin, etc.) But what about the seemingly milder sins of contentiousness, disrespect, coarse language, coarse humour, or in some ways the worst - having an attitude towards the Lord that shows less than a desire to have Him as our master. They honour the Lord with their lives only when it is convenient for them to do so; if work calls for them to sacrifice worship or fellowship they easily justify themselves by saying, 'Oh I need to support my family or it's the requirement for the job' without first honouring the Lord with the kind of job they choose that would allow them to honour Him more completely. They seem to have the attitude that the Lord is their personal buddy. Yes Jesus did say, 'No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.' - John 15:15 ESV but that doesn't deny His lordship over our lives whereas these individuals think that is all there is to God. Maybe it's because of the way I was regenerated by the Lord where I heard the call of the Lord (no there was no voice from Heaven as Paul experienced; just a strong impression of being called) when a Christian co-worker witnessed to me back in 1994-early 1995 and then his having put before me the need to choose either the world or God a decision for which there was only one choice, to choose for God (how could I turn down the creator of the universe?). Once that choice was made I felt a relief and a release. That was on a Thursday. The next day I told my co-worker about this choice and it seemed to me like a monumental situation had been unleashed. The next day on Saturday I was getting ready to go mountain biking and suddenly I was struck down with a vivid image of all my sins flashing before my eyes. That vision certainly did bring me down to my knees! Tears started to flow and in the next moment I felt like all of those sins were forgiven and forgotten. That event caused my eyes to open to the spiritual truth of the fallen nature of mankind, to what sin was (no matter how small), to the truth in scripture (I started to read the Bible voraciously, understanding at last what it was talking about), loving a people called Christians who I had despised and even hated to a degree, the ceasing of swearing coming from my mouth, and oh so many other things that were part of the change of 180 degrees in my life. After that I saw sin everywhere - magazines that I had thought of as ordinary were all of a sudden dripping with sin. My eyes were so sensitive to sin that seemed to glare so brightly that I would wear my sunglasses into stores which in San Diego is pretty common so no one really noticed it. I also wanted to be around other Christians rather than the people I had been hanging out with. I still remember the first Friday after the life changing event when I went out for beers w/ my co-workers/friends after work how when listening to them speak/complain about work, etc. how I no longer related to what they were saying. It was as if they were speaking a foreign language! I just wanted to be back with my Christian co-worker, Jerry, talking about the Lord. Another thing the Lord revealed to me was the evil voice of the enemy of life, Satan, how it speaks corruption and hate to mankind. It was the voice of the enemy that had tried to influence me away from the Lord so many times in the past and I could actually hear it audibly in my mind! Oh how the Lord opened up to me what was hidden from so many other believers! But it wasn't to glorify me in the least but rather to show me a taste of the unseen and unheard battle that was going on all the time in this fallen world. I still don't understand why he opened all this to me but it is one of the reasons I am never at ease with other professing Christian's rationalisations for why they don't follow the narrow path of salvation. I will quite honestly say that I have given into such rationalisations myself. I have not walked a perfect path either and have fallen into my pits along the way. The Lord has had to rescue me from near disaster more times than I can recognise or remember. I have accommodated my antinomial 'Christian' friends more than I have accommodated the Lord! But the Lord has convicted me many times for this accommodation. He, again, has pulled me from the brink of sin many, many times. To be continued and fleshed out...

Ex-Muslim Defends Franklin Graham's Islam Remarks

Ex-Muslim Defends Franklin Graham's Islam Remarks
By Michelle A. Vu|Christian Post Reporter

The granddaughter of a mullah weighed in on the Franklin Graham controversy this week, contending that there is a difference between criticizing Islam and Muslims.

Graham and others like him who criticize Islam are not saying they hate Muslims, said Sabatina James, a well-known Pakistani convert to Christianity who lives in Europe, in an interview with The Christian Post on Wednesday.

“Make the difference between sin and sinner,” said James, "between Islam and Muslims. Don’t say that every Muslim is a terrorist and every Muslim is bad because that is just not true. But there are definitely things that need to be changed in Islam or else you can’t live in a democracy.”

James, who is living under police protection and constantly on the move because of death threats against her, said Islamic rights do not fit in a country like the United States.

“Nobody is allowed to beat up his wife just because she’s not obedient but that is written in the Quran,” she said. “You know you have to think about it.”

“Is there a different Quran? No they are teaching the same Quran where it is written 'beat your wife if she is not obedient.' They are teaching the same Quran where it is written 'the Christians and Jewish people are evil.' It is written in the Surah Al-Maidah. It is written there 'don’t take Jewish and Christian people as your friend.' That is what you are taught in the Quran schools.”

James’ paternal grandfather was a mullah in Pakistan and she was brought up to read the Quran in Arabic every day and pray five times a day. She pointed to the fourth Surah (chapter), verse 34 in the Quran that said if your wife is not obedient then you are allowed to beat her.

The former devout Muslim, who even prayed as a child for the courage to die for Allah one day, said if someone like Franklin Graham reads or hears these passages she “can’t imagine him not getting upset by that.”

“We are living in a democracy and everybody can say his opinion,” James stated.

Franklin Graham was disinvited by the army last week from an upcoming Pentagon prayer event over past criticisms he made about Islam. The army said the comments were inappropriate and went against the army’s message of tolerance.

Also, on Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group widely accused of having ties to terrorists, urged congressional sponsors of the National Day of Prayer event on Capitol Hill to rescind their invitation to Graham as a featured speaker at the May 6 gathering. CAIR denounced Graham as an “anti-Islam preacher” who sends a message of “religious intolerance.”

“Franklin Graham has the right to be an Islamophobe, but he does not have the right to a taxpayer-funded public platform,” said Corey Saylor, CAIR national legislative director, in a statement.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Graham called Islam a “very evil and wicked religion.” Then in an interview with CNN’s Campbell Brown in December 2009 he said:

“True Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can’t beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries.”

Graham has not retracted his earlier remarks but said he has Muslim friends and loves the people of Islam. The humanitarian group he heads, Samaritan’s Purse, works in several predominantly Muslim countries.

“It’s (Muslim world) a part of the world I love very much,” Graham said, according to CNN. “And I understand it. But I certainly disagree with their teaching.”

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), who has sponsored the Congressional National Day of Prayer event at the Capitol for the past four years, defended Graham’s attendance at next week’s prayer event.

“Franklin Graham and his father have been spiritual leaders in our nation for many years. They are great men of faith and Franklin is an appropriate speaker for a National Day of Prayer observance in Washington,” said Aderholt, in a statement Wednesday. “President Obama, Franklin & Billy Graham prayed for each other on Sunday in North Carolina and I’m honored that Franklin will come to Congress to speak and pray for the legislative branch of government on May 6th.”

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