photo by C. Aaron Russell

Volunteers with Wheels of Hope - Ruedas de Experanza

By C. Aaron Russell

Satan may be the prince of the power of the air, however he can’t touch this fleet of pilots when they are on a mission to do the Lord’s work. For over 30 years, Bill Knight, retired U.S. Air Force and private pilot, has been flying across the U.S. and Mexico doing mission work in rural outposts for communities in need, not easily accessed and often forgotten. In 1982 he founded the mission organization Air Transport Arm of Christ based in Fort Worth, TX.

ATAC provides three essential services for people in need—medical care, construction, and Christian ministry. ATAC and their group of volunteer pilots (with commercial, multi-engine and instrument ratings) and private planes transport medical professionals, supplies and equipment to host free medical clinics that provide dental work, eye care, glasses and medical screening. On other occasions they fly out on construction missions to do building repair and projects for schools, churches, orphanages and other community facilities. Christian ministry and evangelism are always a primary element of each mission. FULL POST

It makes no sense that most Christians do not celebrate Passover. It’s not exclusively a Jewish Holiday or only a history of the Hebrews. It’s the story of all believers—God’s People.

Israel became the name of Jacob, which became the name for the nation of God’s People. Israel literally means, “Prince that that has striven (wrestled) with God and prevailed.” That’s what Jacob did and what we all do as a child of God. What Christian hasn’t struggled, in their Christian walk and in their flesh, by believing and following the ways of God? But we hang on in faith, as Jacob did, even when it hurts, and not let go until God blesses us.

We become God’s People by making a covenant with Him. One of the best examples of this was when Ruth, a foreigner, followed Naomi back to her homeland of Israel. Ruth made a covenant, FULL POST

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Tamaulipas, Mexico— A locally established, grass-roots Evangelical church and mission organization, is based and operates in one of the most rural, poor and violence ravaged regions of Mexico. The mission group (unnamed for safety concerns) constructs and run Christian missions in impoverished, isolated villages, providing church services, food, clothing and Scriptures to the people of the communities in which they serve.

Last Christmas, a regional representative of Samaritan’s Purse, one of the worlds largest Christian mission and humanitarian organizations, based in the U.S., selected the Mexican mission group as eligible to receive toys through their program, Operation Christmas Child. OCC collects shoeboxes packed with toys, mostly by individuals and churches in the U.S., sent as gifts to needy children of third world nations, in order for them to have a happier holiday season. FULL POST

The bible is rich with examples of men and women who’ve been given a special dream or vision for their own future by God, only to see all hope and possibility of that dream seemingly die. Each time as that person saw their dream slip away they were faced with three choices, give up; try and hang on to the dream by their own might and “help God out” to make it come true; or wait faithfully and trust God.

Abram and Sarai were given a word by God that they would have a son, and through him would come a nation that would be numbered like the stars and inherit all the land as far as the eye could see. By this time Abram was already over seventy-five years old, but He believed God. Ten years passed, yet still not child. At this point Abram and Sarai decided to take matters into their own hands and help God out. Sarai asked Abram to go to her handmaiden, Hagar, and she became surrogate for a son, Ishmael.

Their actions showed their lack of faith in God’s promise, and from Ishmael did come a nation, but not the one God had spoken of to Abram (Gen 17:9). From Ishmael came the nation of Islam. And though he was the first born and his descendants would claim the birthright, God was clear that the blessing of His covenant would be through Abram and Sarai (Gen. 17:19). However, for taking matters into their own hands, they had brought strife into the land through the lineage of Ishmael, a warrior nation that would always be in conflict with the people of Israel. FULL POST

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Malala Fund supporting the rights of girls’ education around the world

What an amazing little girl. After the horrific injuries she sustained from a Taliban gunshot to the head, the recovery of Mala Yousafzai is not merely a marvel of modern medicine. It is clearly a miracle of healing and she is a living testament to the Lord’s glory and works. The atrocity of her attempted assassination by the Taliban, simply for speaking in support of education for girls in her country, is wickedness in its purest form.

Yet, even after witnessing God’s hand on her, the Taliban has vowed again to finish what they failed to accomplish the first time, which is kill this innocent girl. The Taliban are monsters that shame God’s name. Islam began as a nation that worshipped the one True God of Abraham. God said to Abraham of his son, Ishmael, “I have blessed him… and I will make him a great nation” (Genesis 17:20). What have they become if it is considered a crime for a little girl to want to go to school, punishable of death by firing squad? Long ago Islam allowed God’s Word to be distorted and began worshiping religion instead of God. That has led to violent religious zealots hijacking their faith and controlling their nations. FULL POST

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American hero, Chris Kyle, retired Navy Seal sniper who served on four tours of duty in Iraq, was shot and killed over the weekend, along with his friend Chad Littlefield, while pursuing their passion to help troubled veterans.

Kyle has been credited as the deadliest sniper in American history. He was one of the featured military experts on the recent reality show Stars Earn Stripes, and author of the NY Times best-selling autobiography American Sniper. Kyle credited God and his own guardian angel for protecting him in war-time, even surviving being shot twice his last tour, one bullet stopped by his body armor and the other deflecting off his protective eyewear.

In an interview last year at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX, Chris Kyle spoke openly about his Christian faith. He was somewhat a reluctant hero. When asked about his longest shot of over 2100 yards (1 ¼ mile), Kyle told the story unenthusiastically, with eyes looking downward, as if to express, not guilt, but a heavy heart for what had to be done, which was take a life in order to save others. Kyle was very humble, quick to give others more credit than himself, especially those men and women who paid the ultimate price by giving their lives for their country. FULL POST

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Planned Parenthood is a government-sponsored program of genocide through the use of sterilization and abortion. Abortion has become an epidemic that crosses gender, race, economic and political lines. However, Planned Parenthood is the spearhead of a national population control policy founded on the principle and practice of selective breeding. A policy that targets low income and minority communities, and those deemed unfit or undesirable, who can be anyone from the handicapped to girls because the parents preferred a boy.

Planned Parenthood was founded in 1916 by Margaret Sanger, who coined the term “birth control”. Sanger was also a staunch advocate of eugenics by society. According to Wikipedia,

“As part of her efforts to promote birth control, Sanger found common cause with proponents of eugenics, believing that they both sought to assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit. Sanger was a proponent of negative eugenics, which aims to improve human hereditary traits through social intervention by reducing reproduction by those considered unfit.” FULL POST

photo via flickr hpebley3

When God’s people faced oppression and affliction, they “cried unto the Lord,” and without fail He rescued them. The book of Judges gives us numerous examples of a nation facing persecution and subjugation from an invading army, and the people pleading to God for help. In every instance, the nation had brought devastation upon itself. They had turned from God, and had become a people infected with idolatry, immorality and self righteousness, who oppressed it’s own weak, poor and visitors in the land.

Each time the people forgot the true God, He simply stepped aside and left the people to live in their own sinful ways, which always brought about their own destruction. Only in times of suffering did the nation remember God, turn from their wickedness and call on Him for mercy. Each time He heard their cries and delivered them. The Book of Judges gives us an account of this repeating cycle for a nation: sin, repentance, mercy and salvation. How reminiscent of our own lives this cycle is. Judges is a demonstration of God’s boundless patience and love for his forgetful sons and daughters. FULL POST

photo via samaritanspurse.org

We have opposing viewpoints from two well-known men of God, both preachers and best-selling authors. This is based on the recent sermon from the much younger of the two. David Platt, author of Radical, pastor and prodigy of the Southern Baptist Convention, laid down the gauntlet with a bold, foundation rattling statement that rocked the Christian establishment. He has gotten many evangelicals, even the SBC itself, to reconsider a very core practice of our faith and ask the questions, “Have many Christian, believing they have been saved, been misled?” And “How does a minister follow the biblical method of leading a lost soul, ready and willing, to commit their life to Jesus Christ?”

Platt spoke at the Verge Conference in Austin, TX earlier this year. He gave a sermon titled, God’s glory among the nations. In the sermon, as in his book Radical, Platt addresses the growing problem of apathy in American churches. In his sermon he addresses what he considers to be a primary cause. He believes many were fooled into believing they were saved, when they truly were not. He blames modern false teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Platt, the whole idea that we can “accept Jesus into our hearts” through prayer is superstitious and unbiblical. FULL POST

14 year-old Malala Yousufzai, shot by Taliban for promoting ‘western thinking’

Most days I pull up Google News for the morning’s top stories. Near the top was a tragic headline: ‘Pakistani girl shot by Taliban lands in UK’. (the media won't even call it what it is anymore, preferring the term "assault"). A 14 year-old girl was recently hunted down by the Taliban and shot in the head while on a school van. She survived and was flown to the UK for medical care. Two other young girls were shot in the incident as well. Her crime: blogging for better education for girls in her country. I read this today and my heart sank with sadness. Then outrage began to set in. I prayed for the children of the middle-east where such atrocities happen.

Then, much further down the news page, another tragic headline. Near the other top headlines of the day ‘Aaron Rogers throws 6 TD’s’ and ‘Brad Pitt unveils new fragrance’, we find the story ‘Suspect held in Wyo. Kidnapping’. Within a few minutes the headline disappeared, apparently not popular enough to remain long. However Aaron Rogers and Brad Pitt will certainly remain a big story all day (likely all week).

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