LOST, the TV series, focuses on a group of people thrown together by a tragic crash and trying to cope with their situation and each other.  This is the proverbial “men on a life raft” situation; only there is no good solution—only more questions.

Do we realize that every day, every man, woman and child lives in a situation and is trying to cope with it?  The situation, the condition, is called being lost.  They are misplaced.  They have wandered away from the Great Shepherd.  They are outside the boundaries of God’s plan for their lives.  They do try to cope in the land of the lost.  Enjoying material possessions, family, pets, extreme sports, hobbies, even religion does not assuage the guilt of sin and rebellion against a loving and holy God.  Their situation is hopeless.  Unlike the LOST cast, who head for their air-conditioned, rented condos in Hawaii when the day’s filming is done, lost people wake up everyday to the same emptiness gnawing at their soul. It may glitter on the outside but it is not pretty on the inside.

Whether you look into the eyes of an earthquake victim or into the eyes of a smug Hollywood starlet, you see the same emptiness; the same lack of hope–the lostness.  We think we can handle this; we can cope successfully with our lostness.  We can help the earthquake victim.  We can keep our reputations clean.  We can do whatever is required by a god we have hitched our hopes to.  It will be OK; only it won’t be.  There is no earthly rescue on the way.

But “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2).  Jesus said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness.”  A shaft of divine light has pierced the darkness of humanity’s hopeless, lost condition.  The hopeless have hope; the lost can indeed be found.  Those outside are invited inside.  The misfits can fit.  By God’s grace, we can all be made right through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Light.

Do you carry the light to those around you?  What about to those who are as far away from you as it is possible to get–right over there on the edge of the map?  Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary is training warriors who will lead the way to islands of lostness; who will “preach the gospel to the poor; heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:1-2).  Every human being living outside of Christ is lost and it is dark out there.  Let’s go find them and bring them home.

Not bad pastors, or fighting members. These issues may be symptoms, but the arena in which they fight is WORSHIP

Instead of avoiding the argument, or trying to get everyone to get along, Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner attacks the issue head-on.

In this four part series on Worship, Caner investigates the nature of worship, and the principles behind it. You will be surprised at the results of following the models of worship throughout the Scriptures.

This is a series that everyone needs to hear…

Click here to read about the new DVD release of
Ergun Caner’s new DVD series Houses of the Holy.

The Christmas event is the one fact of history that brings hope.  “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).  God invaded the world and now the devil does his best to divert attention from the stable (see Matt. 2:13-23), the cross (Matt. 27:35-50), and the empty tomb (Matt. 28:1-6).

Satan’s diversion tactics are multi-faceted this time of year.  Merchants dazzle us with deals for gift-giving and we allow ourselves to become distracted from the Gift-giver.  People sue cities to remove distinctly Christian symbols from the city hall.  The world tries to manufacture “canned” happiness so that people will swallow it and be filled on the “cotton candy” instead of the Bread of Life–Jesus.   It takes a choice to keep Jesus as the center of Christmas.

Christmas is a celebration of an unspeakably wonderful gift—Jesus Christ, who as the Son of Man and God the Son, did the Father’s bidding by taking on flesh so that he could redeem the crown jewel of God’s creation, us – all the people of the world.   Indeed, how great our joy!  We give gifts to commemorate the Gift that God gave.  We celebrate the fact of God’s invasion of enemy-occupied territory by decorating our homes with light.

This month, whether you are in Wal-Mart, the mall, or stuck in godless traffic, and your hear Bing, Mariah, or Burl singing, and you see people all caught up in the American “pursuit of happiness,” remember, Christmas is about God, in his omnibenevolence, invading this world to give every soul the chance to be born again. Remember what  C. S. Lewis, in his essay “A Lost Chapter of Herodotus,” wrote, “Exmas distracts the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left.”   Let us indeed make merry; Christ is born!  Just don’t let the canned happiness crowd Christ out of your Christmas.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the prayer of one of the writers of the Proverbs that could not be misconstrued in any way.  Now I am not saying that the Prayer of Jabez is a bad prayer; obviously, it is a prayer of Scripture.  I noticed it turning into a Christian-type of mantra over the course of time, where Christians would repeat it every day; not as if they were repeating Scripture but as if they were trying to conjure up the same results.  It draws our attention to biblical texts that are prescriptive and descriptive.  Descriptive texts are those that explain what was taking place–inspired just as much as the rest of the Bible, inerrant of course.  But describing the acts of another person is not the same as prescribing it for all Christians.  The betrayal by Judas, the doubts of Thomas, and the insolence of Peter are just a few examples.

Prescriptive texts are universal in their application.  God calls us to the same action.

Look at the words of Agur, one of the minor writers in the Proverbs: “7 There are two things, Lord, I want you to do for me before I die: 8 Make me absolutely honest and don’t let me be too poor or too rich. Give me just what I need.  9 If I have too much to eat, I might forget about you; if I don’t have enough, I might steal and disgrace your name.”

Do you see what he was asking?  He was not praying to be rich.  He was not praying to be famous.  He was not asking God for as much wisdom as Solomon, who wrote the majority of the Proverbs.  He was praying for satisfaction.  Make me neither rich nor poor, Lord; neither fame nor fortune.  He was not asking for instant popularity or notoriety.  He was not asking in the vein of “name it and claim it.”  Agur prayed the realist’s prayer—“Lord give me enough bread to satisfy me; provide for me enough money that will take care of my needs.”

It has quickly become one of my favorite prayers of the Bible.  Lord, do not allow me to fall in love with those things you have provided for me.  You see it there in verse 9 when he says so that I don’t lose focus on the provider and focus only on the provision.

Now this book needs to be published; someone needs to write the Prayer of Agur, but I doubt that it would be a best seller.  Every one wants to be rich and famous, even Christians, but the difference between success and satisfaction is a profound one.  There are many successful people who commit suicide; whose lives fall apart; whose families disintegrate.  But satisfied people rest in the realization that what they have is a gift from God.  Try praying the prayer of Agur for a couple of days; your situation may not change but I can promise you that your heart will.

Perhaps you or someone you know has questions and sneaking suspicions about some of the claims of Christianity. Can Christianity really stand up to intellectual scrutiny? Haven’t scientists and historians proven that the Bible is full of myths and errors? How can anyone claim to have the truth?

This book faces these doubts and misconceptions head on and proves that the Christian faith is not only reasonable and true but that it is the most intellectually and existentially coherent option among all others. Christianity is both sensible to the head and satisfying to the heart.

About the Editors:

Norman L. Geisler (Ph.D., Loyola University of Chicago) is cofounder and longtime dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary. He has published countless articles in academic journals and is the author of more than fifty books, including the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Ethics.
Paul K. Hoffman (J.D., University of California at San Francisco) has been a trial lawyer for twenty years. He has authored articles in a variety of periodicals.

Preview video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Go to Lifeway.com to purchase the member and leader materials.
Member Book
Leader Book/DVD

Beginning Saturday, September 12 and concluding on Monday, September 21, Dr. Ergun Caner delivered messages coast-to-coast, from Florida to California to Washington DC to near home in Roanoke, Virginia.

He began his preaching tour in Pensacola, FL, preaching at the Pastor’s Conference at Olive Baptist Church.  He led the student revival services at Raleigh Christian Academy in Raleigh NC, one of the largest Christian Schools in the North Carolina. He returned to Florida to preach at the Worship Expo in Jacksonville.

He began last weekend at the California Christian Apologetics Conference in Fremont, California.  The conference was sponsored by Stand for Truth Ministries, led by apologist Shawn Hayes. Over 1000 people heard Dr. Caner speak on “The Quest for the Hysterical Jesus.” His exhortations were well received.

Overnight, he traveled from California to Washington DC to speak Saturday afternoon at the Values Voter Summit, a conference hosted by the Family Research Council.  He spoke to those gathered on “The Purpose-Driven Mosque.” He is pictured above with Texas Governor Rick Perry.

After a brief respite, Dr. Caner spoke at First Baptist Church Roanoke, Virginia Monday evening.  The church was host for the Vantage Point 2009 Star City Conference, which was co-sponsored by the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.  His sermon was titled, “Truth Is Immortal,” the dying words of Dr. Caner’s Anabaptist hero, Balthasar Hubmaier.

This transcontinental preaching tour involved 16 flights and around 11,200 miles between Florida, North Carolina, California, and Washington DC, concluding with a short hop to Roanoke, Virginia.

My interview on Rifqa Bary, the Muslim girl in danger of honor killing for converting to Christ. We can be silent no more.

Click HERE to go to Florida Baptist Witness for the full article

———–

Click HERE to view other articles related to this story

By JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor
Published: August 28, 2009
Article originally taken from: http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10713.article

ORLANDO (FBW) – Is it really possible the life of a teen-ager in America could be at risk because she rejected her parent’s Islamic faith to become a Christian?

That’s the fear of Rifqa Bary, a 17-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, who ran away from home earlier this month to Florida. At least for now, the State of Florida believes there’s enough evidence of possible danger that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has taken emergency protective custody of the girl.

Bary’s fear of death for converting to Christianity is an all-too common reality for ex-Muslims across the world, according to a former Muslim who grew up in the Columbus mosque closely connected with the Bary family’s mosque.

“I’m Rifqa Bary and I’ve been a Christian for four years. I just want to say that I love my parents. … Yet I’m so in fear for my life because of the past abuse that I’ve encountered,” said the Ohio teen Aug. 21 at a juvenile court hearing in Orlando to consider her request for emergency protective custody.

Bary’s parents have disputed Rifqa’s abuse claims, including her fear that her life is at risk for converting to Christianity.

Her father, Mohamed Bary, a jeweler, asserts his daughter was brainwashed by the Orlando pastor to whom Rifqa fled.

Bary told Orlando’s WESH 2 News, “This is cult group who kidnapped my daughter and took her away,” according to World Net Daily.

In an Aug. 18 petition, Stemberger – the Orlando attorney and well-known pro-family activist who is representing Rifqa – asserted the girl has been beaten by her father and brother and sexually assaulted by an uncle in Sri Lanka.

“The child is in imminent threat of harm not only from her parents but also from the extreme radical Muslim community in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio” because of her Christian conversion, the petition argues.

The petition contends Rifqa’s father threatened to strike her with her laptop computer and said, “If you have this Jesus in your heart, you’re dead to me. You are not my daughter. I will kill you.”

According to Ergun Mehmet Caner, the threat to Rifqa for her rejection of Islam and conversion to Christianity is real. “There’s no question,” Caner said in an Aug. 27 interview with the Witness.

Caner, who converted to Christianity as a 16-year-old in Columbus, Ohio, grew-up in the mosque, the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, out of which the Bary family mosque, Noor Islamic Cultural Center, was started and remains connected.

Now a Baptist minister and president of Liberty Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Va., Caner is a well-known apologist for the Christian faith – activity for which a fatwa, an Islamic religious ruling calling for his death, was issued last year “that put us on the road for a while.”

Because of his outspoken repudiation of Islam and defense of Christianity, Caner said he has to take special security precautions.

Caner and his two brothers, who became Christians within 14 months of his conversion, were disowned by their father, who was the architect of their Columbus mosque.

Rather than sending his sons back to their home country of Turkey, the decision of the eldest Caner to disown his children “was an act of mercy,” Caner told the Witness. Caner said his father died in 1999 as a Muslim, while his mother is now a Christian.

“When someone says, ‘Oh, it’s horrible what happened to you.’ No, what my father did was merciful,” Caner explained, noting his fate could have been much worse.

The risk of an “honor killing” – an obligation under Islamic law for those who reject Islam – is routine in Muslim nations.

According to World Net Daily, “The United Nations tabulates about 5,000 such ‘honor killings’ annually around the world, and they have been documented even in the United States.”

“This happens every sign day,” Caner said, pointing to organizations like Voice of the Martyrs and International Christian Concern that report on Christian persecution.

“How tragic is it that the murder of someone solely for their conversion would be considered routine? But this is 1,300 years of Islamic history,” Caner said.

Caner said the conversion of a female – especially a minor – is particularly offensive under Islam because the “daughter carries the honor in the family.”

He noted under Sharia law, four witnesses are required to validate a rape claim. “Otherwise, she is put to death because she brought dishonor to the family.”

Caner compared the fate of returning Rifqa to her Columbus home to that of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of an international controversy in 2000 who was ultimately returned to his home country after a failed attempt to seek asylum in the U.S. on his behalf by Miami relatives.

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Copyright 2001-2009, Florida Baptist Witness,

“I received over 200 answers within twenty-four hours of posting the questions on Twitter and Facebook. At first I collected them in a small folder, but the folder was quickly replaced with a notebook,” Caner states. So far, he has collected over 500 different responses, including some from skeptics who joined in, even though they were not professing Christians.

It has led to the new series that begins this fall, called HOLY HAND GRENADES. For over a year, Caner knew that God was leading him to series through the Book of James, but he was unclear why. After seeing those questions, he felt he knew. Caner notes, “By mid-July, I began to see some trends forming in the questions. Somewhat like categories. I knew we had hit a good nerve. And every single topic is addressed in James. It was perfect.”

Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr. asked Caner to begin a new service in 2006. Caner submitted a plan that would include voluntary attendance, a dress code of jeans and t-shirts, and some of the loudest Christian music they could find. “I kept saying, ‘Let’s design it for people who do not go to church.’ There are so many amazing worship services here, I didn’t want to have another service like them. The only way to make waves was to have something that did not look like anything else.”Since that time, Caner has been the main speaker on Wednesday nights, and has covered topics such as “Sex and the City of God,” and “Skeptics Welcome.” He promises that this upcoming series will be the most controversial yet.

Wednesday nights this Fall will be different for a number of reasons, according to Caner. “Well, for one thing, we have had to move the services at Thomas Road back a bit, so we begin at 7:45p.m now. The church has exploded with growth in so many areas, we are trying to find ways to ease the traffic.”

Secondly, this Fall the Wednesday night service begins to go under its own name, APERTURE. The term comes from the world of photography, and the idea of focusing appealed to Caner. “Actually, Rachel and Juan, in our office, came up with the name. I was sold on it the moment I saw it,” he said.

Some things remain the same however. The Campus Praise Band, led by David McKinney, will still be leading worship. “They have been there since Day One,” says Caner. “I wouldn’t know how to do this without them.” Also, Caner’s desire to keep spontaneity remains in tact. “I hate announcements, and I loathe over-planning,” Caner said with a grin. “Everyone knows that we announce nothing on Wednesday nights. That leaves room for the Holy Spirit, and sometimes my own stupidity, to keep the services fresh. Over the years, we have had surprise speakers, unscheduled dance groups perform, and we have even had a marriage proposal. You never know…”

He is obviously very proud of this service, that has become one of the largest University worship services in the nation, with between 4,000-5,000 students attending weekly. “Wednesday night Campus Church (APERTURE) is still a place where anyone, from any walk of life, can come in, and not worry about what they are wearing or the questions they carry.”

Beginning on August 26, Caner sets out to hit the topics Christians avoid. The ones that he says make even Christians flinch.

The topics this Fall will include:

Why do I doubt my salvation so much? Doesn’t God want me to know if I am saved or not?
If God is good, why do children starve and people die?
Why are Christians obsessed with our own tiny issues, when the world is going to hell?
Why do Christians ignore the homeless and impoverished?
How do you reconcile God knowing everything and yet man having a free will?
Why do Christians measure people by their biggest faults?
If Christianity is the answer, why are so many people hypocrites?
Why is Christianity reflected so poorly in organized churches?
Why do Christians flinch at the subjects of sexuality?

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
434.592.4179

ON THE WEB:
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