I Have Iranian Siblings

It's true! I have clipped a few details of "Rachel" and "Ali's" experience of persecution in Iran. Their story is not unique, and though these two in particular have successfully escaped from Iran, right now, thousands more Christians like them experience persecution as they did.

In November 2005, just months after being elected Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with the country's 30 governors. "I will stop Christianity in this country," he declared, according to Compass Direct News.

"Persecution is increasing in Iran because of the success of the underground church there," says one VOM director. "There's victory in this story."

In the face of such burgeoning growth in Christianity, the Iranian government has fought back with laws, abuse, and terrorism on its citizenry. Iranian Christians, however, do not buckle under the toil. They cling closer to God as they are persecuted because of His name.

The Iranian Secret Police on more than one occasion stormed their home, beat the couple, and forced them to sign statements that they would not ever attend church. They held Rachel and Ali to the ground and beat them severly with steel cables. Once, Rachel was even raped as she complied with their demands to sign regular statements concerning their Christian faith.

A recent law in Iran has made conversion away from Islam a capital offense for males. This means that the death penalty is the only punishment rendered for any man found guilty of becoming a Christian.

The unimpeded crackdown to "stop Christianity" has placed the church under a magnifying glass. Iranian house church leader Noor says that house meetings have been reduced to three to four people at a time--no large groups.

The article goes into more details of the kinds of beatings, torture, and death that Iranian Christians often face from the government. If you'd like to read the article fully, you may subscribe to Voice of the Martyrs by making a donation online.

While we live very comfortable lives with our many luxuries and liberties, please think about this: that, like Iran, it could disappear with the installment of just the right political leader(s). The Church in Iran needs our prayers. And we need theirs too.

Praise be: VOM estimates about 500 people become believers in Jesus every month!

"Mormons!"

Dan Phillips from TeamPyro has written a cute account of his most recent encounter with Mormon (LDS) missionaries at his doorstep. Though he admits not knowing much about LDS teaching, I'd say that he hit on the right questions with the right tack, proving that you don't need to know much about Mormonism to have a successful dialogue with their missionaries. You just need to know how to ask good questions (and know the answers to your own questions as well).

I count all the households with thoughtful Christian people that get visits from Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses providentially blessed indeed. Do note I said "thoughtful." I mean, don't we Christians regularly pray for opportunities to share the gospel? What better opportunity is there when they literally appear on our front door?!?

Hats off to Dan for a job well done. The TeamPyro blog kicks my ire once in a while, but they've proven that old doggs can learn new tricks. ;-)
(disclaimer: The Damsel is neither calling TeamPyro "old" nor "dogs." Gotta keep those i's dotted...)

The question I have is this: can you handle it?

A Firing Line of 15 Against Calvinism. Wow.

I started out writing this blog in a serious attempt to critique the latest Baptist Press article about Calvinism and the SBC. But as I perused it over and over again trying to understand what the blink it was really saying, the more my thoughts kept getting satirical in nature. So, that's where I'm going with it. Besides, Timmy Brister has already given the more pointed eval, so I won't bother repeating what he has already blogged.

Objectively, this article reads like a conversation with Don Quixote, logically impaired but full of inuendo. As a Baptist, I totally understand it. Follow the line of thinking in the article:

John Piper is a Calvinist that speaks at big events--->preachers who wear Hawaiian shirts don't tell people they're going to hell--->Bill Hybels' seeker methodology discourages evangelism--->therefore, that would make Bill Hybels a Calvinist.

Southern Baptists have neglected "serious Christian education"--->Calvinism is on the rise among those in higher education (college and seminary) seeking "a more intellectual approach to Christianity"--->therefore, some serious Christian education should reverse that intellect that is plaguing Calvinists so much.

My husband says that this article, if not those being interviewed for it, is just spraying bullets every which way. I kinda agree.

Okay, I'll break with my above demeanor just to ask the following serious questions, in places where the article seems to leave the reader hanging:

In one paragraph, the article states "Calvinist-led churches are generally smaller in worship attendance and baptisms than non-Calvinist churches," but goes onto point out that John Piper preaches to "huge, stadium-type events" (according to Hal Poe). Is this ridicule for having generally smaller worship attendance congruent with the high attendance seen at Piper's speaking events? Which of these contrasting venues is evidence of error?

Further down, Poe throws out that Piper's popularity is due to his passion. Passion about what? His passion about Calvinism? Apparently the content of Piper's sermons and speaking topics are less important than how he feels about it, which must certainly make his theology so much more appealing.

Wayne Bristow expresses that Calvinism has forced him to be "labeled." Labeled what, exactly?
And what about this?

[Jerry]Drace told the group he currently is working with some young pastors who
are "so leaning in this morphed Calvinism that they almost laugh at evangelism.
It's almost to the extent that they believe they don't have to do it. So
[Calvinism] gives them an excuse not to do evangelism."

Without explaining what "morphed Calvinism" is compared to nonmorphed Calvinism, I'm detecting a bit of fraud in this quote. What Calvinist-leaning person, who truly understands Calvinism, seeks to avoid evangelism? Names, please, so they can be slapped upside...

All this brings me to my final question: although Poe and Drace each claim that Calvinism as it is believed today is foreign to John Calvin himself (and Spurgeon as well), the article never lays out what makes today's Calvinism different than it ever was. How do they understand Calvinism better as it was framed by Calvin than today's reformed Christians? Besides, there is the little matter of Augustine to deal with before Calvin.

This article gets a "D-" for poor writing and poor content.