GIVE GRACE A CHANCE [DEVOTION OF THE WEEK ~ SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2013 TO SATURDAY NOVEMBER 9, 2013]

NOTICE: The following article is written by the author itself and not by me, I am not trying to violate their copyright. I will give some information on them. I chose this for the devotion of the week as it is Reformation Day.

PAGE TITLE: CBN Daily Devotional

ARTICLE TITLE: This Halloween, Give Grace a Chance

DATE: 2012

AUTHOR: Nathalie Jeter

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Nathalie Jeter is the author of PrayerWalk Beijing and blogs about travel, food, and prayer at www.prayerwalkguides.com.

URL: http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/devotions/jeeter_halloween.aspx

With a hammer in one hand and a large scroll under his arm, Martin Luther approached the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He paused to take a couple of nails from a pouch hidden in the folds of his dark woolen habit then began pounding his 95 theses to the church’s heavy wooden doors. 

The date was October 31, 1517 and the event changed the course of human history. 

Luther’s protest was not against ghosts and goblins or children dressing up to trick-or-treat. He chose All Hallow’s Eve because it was the night before All Saints’ Day, a day when most of Wittenberg’s inhabitants would be in church. It was good advertising.

This was not the United States of America where freedom of speech is protected as a Constitutional right. The Catholic Church was the supreme authority in the land: those who went against the Church did so at the peril of their lives.

What prompted this act of courage and defiance on Luther’s part?

As Luther studied Scripture, his eyes were opened to a new concept: the concept of God’s grace. Passion burned inside him as he read verses like Ephesians 2:8-9:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

The established Church in Luther’s day misled people into thinking they could be saved by their own works through pilgrimages, confessions and by purchasing indulgences, which were basically “get out of hell free” cards. It became clear to Luther that men could not purchase God’s grace: it was freely given. This conviction led him to write out 95 main points of contention with the Catholic Church, his “theses,” which he ended up nailing to the door of the church in Wittenberg.

Today many Christians debate the proper stance to take toward Halloween. Some believe that the holiday glorifies witchcraft and evil, while others see it simply as innocent fun. One of Satan’s most successful tactics is to incite Christians to fight each other on matters of doctrine. Perhaps we would do better this October 31 to focus on what is most important to God, just like Martin Luther did on that fateful day in history.

Luther was determined. He was passionate. He was willing to sacrifice his credentials, social status, even his life for the sake of sharing the news about God’s saving grace. The words of Romans 10:14 struck him at the core: 

“And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” 

Are you willing to make similar sacrifices to bring people from darkness to light?

Taking It to the Streets

Here are some ideas for taking God’s grace to the streets this Halloween.

Organize a prayerwalk around your neighborhood. Before the night falls and costumed children begin their quest for candy and fun, walk around your neighborhood alone or with friends, praying that the children will be protected from physical and emotional harm inside and outside their homes. Pray that the people in your neighborhood might be brought from darkness to light.

Be a Witness. How will they hear unless they are told? Halloween provides a great chance to plant seeds for the Gospel. It’s like door-to-door witnessing in reverse: the lost come to you! Try slipping in a kid-friendly tract along with any candy you distribute. And be friendly: these are likely to be kids from your neighborhood. You may not recognize them out of costume tomorrow but they’ll sure recognize you!

Organize a Neighborhood Party. Provide a “holy” alternative celebration for children and adults in your neighborhood. Consider hosting a “Reformation Day Celebration” in commemoration of Martin Luther’s brave act or a “Harvest Party” that celebrates the things we love most about fall.

Lend a Hand. Many churches organize Halloween alternatives but need help from volunteers to decorate, bring candy, or to help out at the event. Join in their efforts to provide good, clean fun.

Luther’s brave act was like a bolt of lightning rending the midnight sky. Now it’s your turn to do something revolutionary: give someone the gift of God’s grace this Halloween.

ATHEISM ASIDE: PETER HITCHENS’ JOURNEY TO FAITH [DEVOTION OF THE WEEK ~ SUNDAY OCTOBER27, 2013 TO SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2, 2013]

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/July/Atheism-Aside-Peter-Hitchens-Journey-to-Faith/

Atheism Aside: Peter Hitchens' Journey to Faith

LONDON - One of Britain's most famous journalists and outspoken atheists Peter Hitchens has become a Christian.  

His new-found faith has led to a very public literary debate with his older brother Christopher, who does not share his brother's belief in God. 

Christopher, a very outspoken atheist and an American citizen, has written the book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. 

In response, Peter, columnist for the London Mail on Sunday and a former atheist and Marxist revolutionary, has just written a book titled The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.

 

The Battling Hitchens Brothers

The siblings, who've been dubbed "The Battling Hitchens brothers," came from a family with a Christian heritage. Their grandfather was a devout Baptist.

"He was a very strict Baptist," Peter told CBN News. "His wife, my paternal grandmother who I never knew, was an Anglican of a Protestant type. It was an extremely religiously conscious household."

Peter said relations between the two brothers are cool. This interview took place before it was announced that Christopher has developed cancer.   

"I think it's typical of quite a lot of younger older brother relations. We don't get on particularly well," Peter said, adding that he and Christopher fought often as children.

Peter has suggested that Christopher spends so much time debating and attacking religion that he is actually a "repressed seeker." Christopher, however, has denied the claim. 

For all their public dueling, Peter said the two haven't recently spoken privately about faith. 

"I don't think I could be bothered to discuss it with him in private, to be honest," Peter said. "I don't think I'd get anything different in private than I get in public."    

"I express the hope in the book that he'll stop assuming that religion poisons everything and that everyone who believes in God is stupid," Peter said. "I don't ask for any more."

"There's a difficulty: if you take a public position, a very public position, then you brick yourself up in a tower and it's got arrow slits instead of windows. You can chuck missiles out of it, but you can't get out yourself," Peter observed.

Life as an Atheist

Peter told CBN News that during his time as an atheist, he rarely had doubts about his unbelief.

"Not for a long time. No. We were armored against. We were full of our own righteousness," he explained. "We knew what was right. We knew we were right. We knew we were good. We defined our own goodness."

The former Marxist revolutionary wrote in his book that as an atheist, he didn't have any Christian friends - and didn't want any.

"I wouldn't have wanted any," he said. "I found the whole thing repellent."   

"There is a lot of scorn in revolutionary socialism," he explained. "There's a lot of scorn for the people who aren't up for it. There is a lot of scorn for the people who are opposed to it. There's a feeling that you are the vanguard and you know best, and everyone else is ignorant and stupid."

"You see that scorn in the new atheists, in the way they treat their opponents - not with any kind of respect at all," he continued. "They still act as if Christianity is a kind of stupid aberration that only an idiot could follow."     

Too Late for Britain?  

Although Peter has returned to Christ, Great Britain largely has not. Church attendance is low and atheists have conducted public campaigns against faith. Peter said it may be too late for a revival of Christianity in Britain.

"I'm not allowed to despair, but if I were allowed to, I would," he said. "It's gone a long way. Christianity has been very badly damaged here." 

"Huge numbers of people don't know anything about it at all, who don't know the Bible stories, who've never opened a Bible, who don't know the Bible, have never been inside a church, have no conception of what Christianity is or means," he said.   

So how does this man of faith feel about having led others to become atheists?   

"Obviously you look back on this and you think, 'Well, I've changed my mind, but the other people whom I have influenced have lives of their own and their thoughts have taken on a life of their own," he said. "But ultimately because I persuaded them, it's my fault. It's one of those things for which there is no real path back."   

Peter's Journey Back to Faith

In his book, Peter said his return to Christianity was a process over many years. He writes about a moment in his journey back to faith when, as an atheist, he genuinely feared God.

It was when he gazed on Rogier van der Weyden's painting "The Last Judgment," which shows the terror on the faces of those condemned to Hell.   

"They've obviously just heard the last trump," Peter said. "And one of them was actually vomiting with fright." 

"And it just came through that I might be judged. And I was scared. I still am," he revealed. "One of my reasons for my change is that I am scared. But then again, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 

Originally broadcast July 23, 2010.  

VIDEO INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8LqfgKuXFs

HAPPY 62ND BIRTHDAY PETER HITCHENS! MAY GOD BLESS YOU! [QUOTE OF THE FORTNIGHT ~ SUNDAY OCTOBER 27, 2013 TO SATURDAY NOVEMBER 9, 2013]

 

Peter Hitchens

QUOTE: “The Devil, as I was brought up to believe, finds work for idle hands.” (Miliband shoots at a footballing fascist - and scores an own goal 07 April 2013 12:01 AM)

AUTHOR: Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English foreign correspondent and author. He has published six books, including The Abolition of Britain, A Brief History of Crime, The Broken Compass, The Rage Against God and The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs.

Hitchens writes for Britain's The Mail on Sunday newspaper, and describes himself as a Burkean conservative. A former foreign correspondent based in Moscow and later Washington, Hitchens continues to work as an occasional foreign reporter, and appears frequently in the British broadcast media. He is the younger brother of the late writer Christopher Hitchens.

Peter Hitchens was once an atheist like his late brother Christopher Hitchens, but he became a member of the Church of England and an advocate of moral virtues founded on Christian faith and institutions such as marriage, which he argues have since the 1960s been undermined by social liberals and cultural Marxists. Hitchens defends the use of the Church of England's 1662 Book of Common Prayer and King James Bible. Of the latter, he has written "it is not simply a translation, but a poetic translation, written to be read out loud... to lodge in the mind and to disturb the temporal with the haunting sound of the eternal".