Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad (FROM MUSLIM TO BE CHRISTIAN JAILED IN EGYPT)

Secret police flout court order to release former Muslim sheikh.

Bahaa el-Din el-Akkad

October 18 (Compass Direct News) – A Muslim sheikh jailed in Egypt for 18 months has declared from his prison cell that he is under arrest for “insulting Islam” by becoming a Christian.

Egypt’s secret police transferred Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad, 57, to the Wadi el-Natroun Prison last month. He was told he would remain there indefinitely unless he agreed to work as a government informer against other converts to Christianity.

According to the prisoner’s Cairo attorney, Athanasius William, his client remains incarcerated in this desert prison “only because he has chosen a different belief, to be a Christian.”

El-Akkad was imprisoned without charges for more than a year after officials of the State Security Investigation (SSI) arrested him in Cairo on April 6, 2005.

Although subjected to repeated interrogations, the former Muslim was never told the specific accusations against him. But several of his cellmates spread rumors that he was converting and baptizing people into Christianity, sparking verbal abuse and at least one severe beating from a fellow prisoner.

El-Akkad after his arrest

When the courts finally ordered El-Akkad’s release from provisional detention 10 weeks ago, SSI authorities deliberately ignored the ruling. Instead, they held him in their Gaber Ibn Hayyan office in Giza and then transferred him to the Wadi el-Natroun Prison, located 60 miles north of Cairo along the highway to Alexandria.

William told Compass it was strictly illegal for the SSI to have re-arrested El-Akkad and jailed him indefinitely “without the orders of a legally authorized official,” as required under Article 280 of the Egyptian penalty laws.

Disillusioned with Islam

In a series of handwritten notes smuggled out of prison in recent months and obtained by Compass, El-Akkad declared that he had “chosen the Christian faith” after years of research on Islam.

For more than 20 years, the former sheikh was a member of the fundamentalist Islamic group Tabligh and Da’wa, which actively proselytized non-Muslims but strictly opposed violence. He also led a mosque community in Al-Haram, in the Giza area adjacent to Cairo. In 1994 he had published, Islam: the Religion, a 500-page book reviewing the traditional beliefs of the Islamic faith.

But he became disillusioned, and five years ago the sheikh said he began to pray that he could somehow know God personally. It was not until January 2005 that he talked for the first time with someone who explained the tenets of the Christian faith to him. He began intensive study of Christian Scripture, and within weeks he became a follower of Jesus.

“This is a proof to all Muslims,” El-Akkad wrote, “that the person who studies the two religions from an objective and serious perspective will choose the Christian approach.”

But within two months, word of El-Akkad’s conversion to Christianity had reached the SSI, and secret police picked him up without warning from his private trade office.

Family Waits in Vain

After six weeks in SSI detention, El-Akkad was sent to Cairo’s Tora Mazraa Prison. When his lawyer, William, finally obtained power of attorney to visit the convert, he was told he was incarcerated under emergency law provisions on suspicion of “committing blasphemy against Islam.”

For the following year, El-Akkad’s detention was renewed every 45 days under emergency law provisions, even though he still had not been formally charged.

But this past July, authorities instituted a new law restricting provisional detention regulations, specifying that the length of provisional detention for a misdemeanor should not, “whatever the circumstances,” exceed six months.

El-Akkad was accused of “insulting a heavenly religion,” a misdemeanor under Article 98-F of the Egyptian penal code. So a Cairo court ordered him released on July 30.

After learning of the court-ordered release, El-Akkad’s wife and three children waited in vain for him to return home. Ten days later, William finally confirmed that although the convert had been released from prison, he remained in SSI custody in Giza.

Desert Prison

By mid-September, authorities transferred El-Akkad to the maximum security Wadi el-Natroun Prison, where the majority of Egyptian Islamists sentenced for anti-government activities are incarcerated.

Notorious for its Spartan conditions in the desert, the prison facility houses its prisoners in small cells measuring one by two meters.

According to William, his client is in weak health from prison, suffering from high blood pressure as well as skin diseases caused by extreme temperatures, unsanitary cell conditions and bites from insects and small reptiles.

“He is locked in a place where he may die because his age, body and mind cannot tolerate this cruelty and stubbornness of the state security authorities,” William said.

The attorney has received no response from a petition he filed to Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud on September 4 citing serious legal violations in El-Akkad’s case.

Although Egypt’s Christian citizens are free to embrace Islam and obtain legal Muslim identities, Muslim citizens are not allowed to change their religious identity. Those who become Christians are subjected to severe harassment by the SSI, which often arrests converts for either insulting Islam or “threatening national security.”

(Wednesday October 18, 2006 - Compass Direct News)

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October 18 (Compass Direct News) – Seorang sheikh yg dipenjara selama 18 bulan menyatakan dari selnya bahwa ia ditahan karena tuduhan 'menghujat Islam' karena murtad dan masuk Kristen.

Intel Mesir mentransfer Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad, 57, ke penjara gurun pasir, Wadi el-Natroun bulan lalu. Ia mengatakan, ia akan disekap disana tanpa batas waktu kecuali ia bersedia memata-matai muslim-muslim lain yg "murtad" dan masuk Kristen.

Menurut pengacara penjara Kairo, Athanasius William, kliennya dipenjara di penjara gurun pasir “hanya karena ia memilih agama lain, Kristen.”

El-Akkad dipenjara tanpa tuduhan selama lebih dari satu tahun setelah Intel menahannya di Kairo tanggal 06 April 2005.

Walau terus diinterogasi, mantan Muslim itu tidak pernah diberitahu apa sebenarnya tuduhan yg dijatuhkan terhdpnya, tetapi rekan2 sepenjaranya mengatakan bahwa ia ganti agama dan membaptis orang sehingga mengakibatkannya dipukuli sampai babak belur oleh sesama tawanan.

Setelah pengadilan memerintahkan pembebasannya, pihak intel tidak mengacuhkan keputusan itu. Malah mereka memindahkannya ke penjara di gurun pasir.

Dalam sejumlah tulisan tangannya yg diselundupkan dari penjara beberapa bulan ini, ia mengatakan bahwa ia memilih agama Kristen setelah bertahun-tahun mempelajari Islam.

Selama lebih dari 20 tahun, mantan sheikh ini adalah anggota kelompok Islam fundamentalis, Tabligh dan Da’wah, yg secara aktif membujuk non-Muslim masuk Islam tetapi menolak kekerasan. Ia memimpin mesjid di Al-Haram, di kawasan Giza dekat Kairo. Th 1994 ia menerbitkan buku (Islam: the Religion, buku berisi 500 halaman yg mengulas Islam)

Tetapi ia semakin kecewa dgn Islam dan 5 tahun lalu ia mulai mencari versi Tuhan yg bisa dikenalinya secara pribadi. Baru pd bulan Januari 2005 ia mulai mempelajari Injil secara intensif dan dlm beberapa minggu ia menjadi PENGIKUT KRISTUS.

“Ini bukti bagi semua Muslim,” tulis El-Akkad, “bahwa orang yg mempelajari kedua agama dari perspektif serius dan obyektif akan memilih pendekatan cara Kristen.”

Tetapi dua bulan kemudian, kemurtadan El-Akkad membuat marah intel dan ia dijemput dari kantornya.

Walau kaum Kristen Mesir bebas memeluk Islam, warga Muslim TIDAK BOLEH mengganti identitas agama mereka. Mereka yg murtad akan ditangkap intel dan dituduh menghujat Islam atau mengancam kemanan nasional.

Teguh di dalam Kristus

Jika Anda yakin pada pendirian anda, jika Anda mengharapkan hadirat Kristus yang hidup di dalam diri Anda, Anda bisa tertawa ketika Anda melihat keadaan makin memburuk. Allah akan membuat Anda berdiri teguh di dalam Kristus, dan itu hanya terjadi jika Anda dipenuhi dengan Roh Kudus sehingga Anda menjadi tabah dan tidak tergoyahkan di dalam Dia.

Di kayu salib, Yesus menyerahkan diriNya tanpa cacat kepada Allah. Kemudian Allah memimpinNya melalui kubur kosong, kenaikan yang mulia, dan mendapat tempat di takhtaNya. Allah ingin membawa kita seperti itu, dan Roh Kudus akan memimpin setiap langkah kita.

Anak Allah tidak akan pernah dipuaskan sampai kita bersamaNya, membagi kemuliaan dan takhtaNya.

(Smith.W)

Kunci untuk Menerima Berkat - Berkat Allah yang terbaik

Inilah Kunci dan Rahasia untuk menerima berkat-berkat Allah yang terbaik dalam hidup kita yaitu dengan jalan mengasihi musuh-musuh anda (maksud: orang-orang yang menyakiti hati Anda). Saya tahu dari pengalaman bahwa bila Anda ingin sembuh dan selalu hidup sehat, serta mendapatkan semua berkat rohani dari Allah, maka Anda harus mengasihi musuh-musuh Anda, berbuat baik kepada mereka, memberkati dan mendoakan mereka.

(Kenneth.E.H)

Yesus Jauh Lebih Besar

Ada kekuatan jahat, tetapi Yesus jauh lebih besar daripada semuanya. Ada penyakit yang sangat mengerikan, tetapi Yesus adalah Penyembuh. Tidak ada masalah yang terlalu sulit bagiNya.

Singa dari Yehuda bisa mematahkan setiap rantai. Dia datang untuk melepaskan yang tertindas dan membebaskan yang tertawan. Dia datang membawa Penebusan, membuat kita menjadi manusia yang sempurna di hadapan-Nya.

Setiap kasih karunia yang diberikan kepada Anda: Pengampunan – Penyembuhan – Pembebasan, akan ditentang oleh Iblis. Dia akan menggoda Anda. Ketika Anda diselamatkan, Iblis akan berkata,”Lihat, kau tidak diselamatkan.”

Iblis adalah Pendusta. Jika ia berkata bahwa Anda tidak diselamatkan, maka itu adalah tanda yang pasti bahwa Anda diselamatkan.

(Smith.W)

Mengapa Iman Anda Tidak Bekerja?

Jika anda melihat bahwa iman anda tidak bekerja atau membuahkan hasil berarti anda perlu memeriksa kembali bagaimana kehidupan anda di dalam Kasih.

Kalau anda tidak hidup di dalam kasih, maka iman anda tidak akan bekerja.

Ingat, mungkin ada kesalahan orang lain bahkan kesalahan diri sendiri yang anda masih simpan dan ingat-ingat di dalam hati anda; itu bisa jadi penghambat dan penyebab sehingga iman anda tidak bekerja dan membuahkan hasil.

Ampunilah kesalahan orang lain mulai dari yang paling ringan sampai yang paling menyakitkan hati anda, karena Kristus pun telah mengampuni kesalahan anda. Dan kesalahan anda sendiri di masa lalu yang sudah diampuni Allah, jangan diingat-ingat lagi, sebab bisa menjadi penghalang bagi keberhasilan iman anda.

Kasih dan Pengampunan itu tidak dapat dipisahkan; keduanya pasti berjalan bersama, sebab pengampunan adalah salah satu bagian dari kasih. Jadi anda tidak dapat menggerakkan iman anda jika anda tidak hidup dalam kasih dan pengampunan.

Ada 3 hal yang terpenting di dalam kehidupan orang percaya, yaitu Iman, Harap, dan Kasih; dan di antara ketiga hal ini Kasih-lah yang Terbesar. Alkitab mengatakan bahwa ALLAH adalah KASIH (I Yoh 4:8), oleh karena itu kita perlu lebih dalam mengenal Kasih Allah.

Mengapa Kasih lebih besar daripada Iman? Karena IMAN tidak dapat bekerja tanpa KASIH. Diperlukan adanya Kasih untuk membuat Iman bekerja. - Galatia 5:6.

Kasih Allah adalah kuasa dari Iman.

Setiap langkah di luar kasih Allah adalah dosa. Berjalan di dalam kasih berarti menggenapi hukum Taurat. Hidup dalam kasih Allah berarti hidup dalam kebaikan dan kelemahlembutan, hidup dalam kesabaran, tidak menyombongkan diri, tidak mementingkan diri sendiri, tidak mudah tersinggung, tidak bersikeras menuntut hak-haknya atau kehendaknya sendiri, kasih itu tidak mudah marah atau pendendam, kasih itu tidak menyimpan kesalahan diri sendiri ataupun kesalahan orang lain, kasih itu mengabaikan perlakuan yang tidak baik dari orang lain, kasih itu mengharapkan yang “terbaik” dari setiap orang.

(Kenneth.E.H)

Kebangkitan Yesus Kristus

Kebangkitan Yesus adalah fakta yang sangat penting, karena kebangkitan-Nya menggenapkan keselamatan kita. Yesus datang untuk menyelamatkan kita dari dosa, dan sebagai akibatnya menyelamatkan kita dari kematian.

Kebangkitan juga membuat perbedaan yang tajam antara Yesus dengan semua pendiri agama. Tulang-tulang dari semua pendiri agama, selain Yesus, masih berada di bumi, tetapi kubur Yesus kosong.

Dampak dari kebangkitan, sangat besar. Hidup menjadi memiliki HARAPAN, kehidupan lebih berkuasa daripada kematian, kehidupan pada akhirnya menang.
Tuhan telah menyentuh kita di sini, Tuhan telah mengalahkan kematian, musuh terakhir kita.

Kebangkitan telah mengubah hidup para murid sebelum dan sesudah kebangkitan. Sebelum melihat kebangkitan, mereka lari, menyangkal Gurunya. Mereka berkumpul dan bersembunyi dalam ketakutan dan kebingungan. Setelah melihat kebangkitan, mereka diubah dari ketakutan menjadi rasul yang berani dan percaya diri, menjadi penginjil yang mempengaruhi dunia, bersedia mati martir dan bersukacita sebagai utusan Kristus.

Seandainya Yesus tidak bangkit, maka sia-sialah keyakinan kita sebagai Kristen, dan Kristen adalah orang-orang yang paling malang di dunia; dan seluruh umat manusia di dunia tidak akan memiliki Pengharapan lagi dan akhirnya menuju kepada kebinasaan di Neraka. Namun yang BENAR adalah ... Yesus Bangkit ... Dia Hidup kembali ... kuburNya KOSONG,... Kristus telah menjadi Yang Pertama BANGKIT dari antara orang mati, Dia telah menang atas Maut, segala musuh-Nya telah ditaklukkan ke bawah kaki-Nya !!!

Yesus bukan saja telah menyelesaikan tugas dari Bapa-Nya dan menang atas maut, tetapi Dia mau memberikan kemenangan kepada kita juga, Dia mau membuat kita menjadi PENAKLUK-PENAKLUK MUSUH!!!

Kepada siapakah Saudara mempercayakan hidupmu? Apakah yang engkau percayai mempunyai kuasa kebangkitan? Apakah yang engkau percayai mempunyai kuasa terhadap kematian?

Jika engkau belum mempercayai Yesus, percayakan hidupmu sekarang juga kepada Yesus yang telah bangkit dan mengalahkan kuasa maut.

Jika engkau mau percaya kepada Yesus, kematian bukan hal yang menakutkan Saudara lagi dan kebangkitan maupun hidup yang kekal akan Saudara terima. Maukah Saudara?

Yeshua - the real name of Jesus

Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus the Nazarene, who lived from about 6 B.C.E. to 27 C.E. (A.D.) The word "Jesus" is actually a mis-transliteration of a Greek mis-transliteration. The Emperor Constatine even mistook Jesus for Apollo, the son of the Greek god Zeus. In Hebrew Yeshua means Salvation while the name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.

Yeshua Ben Yosef

It is most proper to call Him Yeshua. It was indeed his proper name, given to him by his parents, and only in Hebrew does this name have any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means both "Salvation," and the concatenated form of Yahoshua, is "Lord who is Salvation." The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.

There are many Yeshuas that we read about in Biblical text and many are confused with the Yeshua who would later become the "Christ". The name Yeshua appears 29 times in the Tanach. Yehoshua (Joshua) of Nun is called Yeshua in Nechemyah (Nehemiah) 8:17. Yeshua is the name of the Cohain HaGadol (the high priest) in the time of Zerubavel in Ezra 3:2. It is the name of a Levite under King Hizkiyah (Hezekiah) in 2 Chronicles 31:15. There is even a city called Yeshua in the negev of Yehudah in Nechemyah11:26. Yeshua is also a shortened version of the word Yehoshua much like Bill is for William.

There are 7 other Yeshuas (Jesuses) in the Brit Chadashah. There is Elymas bar Yeshua in Acts 13:6. There is an ancestor of Yeshua HaMashiach: the son of Eliezar, the father of Er in Luke 3:29. In Rav Shaul's letter to the Colossians in chapter 4, verse 11, there is a Justus called Yeshua a fellow worker of Shaul. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian mentions 20 different Yeshuas (Jesuses), 10 of which are contemporary with Yeshua HaMashiach. All together, at least 50 Yeshuas from his time plus about 9 in the Tanach have been revealed from Biblical text and other literary sources.

Mis-Translating the Mis-Translation

Yeshua is a Hebrew name which has been transliterated into Greek as Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced "ee-ay-SUS"). The English "Jesus" comes from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin Iesus. Now Greek has no "y" sound, but the Latin "i" is both an "i" and a "j" (i.e., it can have a consonantal force in front of other vowels), the latter of which is properly pronounced like the English "y" (which explains the German Jesu, "YAY-su")That is why we spell Jesus as we do, taking it straight from Latin, but we pronounce the name with a soft "j" sound because that is what we do in English with the consonantal "j".

The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. All proper names in the Old Testament were transliterated into English according to their Hebrew pronunciation via the Latin, but when English pronunciation shifted to what we know today, these transliterations were not altered. Thus, such Hebrew place names as ye-ru-sha-LA-yim, ye-ri-HO, and yar-DEN have become known to us as Jerusalem, Jericho, and Jordan; and Hebrew personal names such as yo-NA, yi-SHAI, and ye-SHU-a have become known to us as Jonah, Jesse, and Jesus. To further complicate matters, there was no letter "J" in the old English alphabet and the letter "I" was often used in its place. Often in early texts of the time, Jesus or Jerusalem would be spelled Iesus or Ierusalem.

The second sound in Yeshua's name is called tse-RE, and is pronounced almost like the letter "e" in the word "net". Just as the "Y" sound of the first letter is mispronounced in today's English, so too the first vowel sound in "Jesus". Before the Hebrew name "Yeshua" was transliterated into English, it was first transliterated into Greek. There was no difficulty in transliterating the tse-RE sound since the ancient Greek language had an equivalent letter which represented this sound. And there was no real difficulty in transcribing this same first vowel into English. The translators of the earliest versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua with an "e". Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee" instead of "Yeh". It is this pronunciation which produced such euphemistic profanities as "Gee" and "Geez".

Since Yeshua is spelled "Jeshua" and not "Jesus" in most English versions of the Old Testament (for example in Ezra 2:2 and 2 Chronicles 31:15), one easily gets the impression that the name is never mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet 'Yeshua' appears there twenty-nine times, and is the name of at least five different persons and one village in the southern part of Yehudah ("Judah").

In contrast to the early biblical period, there were relatively few different names in use among the Jewish population of the Land of Israel at the time of the Second Temple. The name Yeshua was one of the most common male names in that period, tied with Eleazer for fifth place behind Simon, Joseph, Judah, and John. Nearly one out of ten persons known from the period was named Yeshua.

The first sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the "sh" sound. It is represented by the Hebrew letter shin. However Greek, like many other languages, has no "sh" sound. Instead, the closest approximation, the Greek sigma, was used when transcribing "Yeshua" as "Iesus". Translators of English versions of the New Testament transliterated the Greek transcription of a Hebrew name, instead of returning to the original Hebrew. This was doubly unfortunate, first because the "sh" sound exists in English, and second because in English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus".

The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "u" sound, as in the word "true". Like the first three sounds, this also has come to be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as in "cut," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."

The "a" sound, as in the word "father," is the fifth sound in Jesus' name. It is followed by a guttural produced by contracting the lower throat muscles and retracting the tongue root- an unfamiliar task for English speakers. In an exception to the rule, the vowel sound "a" associated with the last letter "ayin" (the guttural) is pronounced before it, not after. While there is no equivalent in English or any other Indo-European language, it is somewhat similar to the last sound in the name of the composer, "Bach." In this position it is almost inaudible to the western ear. Some Israelis pronounce this last sound and some don't, depending on what part of the dispersion their families returned from. The Hebrew Language Academy, guardian of the purity of the language, has ruled that it should be sounded, and Israeli radio and television announcers are required to pronounce it correctly. There was no letter to represent them, and so these fifth and sixth sounds were dropped from the Greek transcription of "Yeshua," -the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is derived.

So where did the final "s" of "Jesus" come from? Masculine names in Greek ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, and less frequently with an "n" or "r" sound. In the case of "Iesus," the Greeks added a sigma, the "s" sound, to close the word. The same is true for the names Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and others.

English speakers make one final change from the original pronunciation of Jesus' name. English places the accent on "Je," rather than on "sus." For this reason, the "u" has been shortened in its English pronunciation to "uh."

In Jesus' Name

Today's tradition of pronouncing His completely hellenized name as "Jesus" has indeed obscured His true name, "Yeshua," and has shifted its perceived meaning much like most of His original teachings.

As with all things Essene however, there is always the exoteric and the esoteric philosophies and functions. That is, those ideas and teachings suitable to be imparted to the public, and those designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone.

Even His name, it would seem, became a part of this understanding. The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas, and is even used as a profanity. The name Yeshua however, has remained pure and holy, known and used only by those who would uphold His name and teachings in the highest regard and thus reserving His holy name for use only in spiritual matters and the most humbled and sincere of prayer and obeisances.

Sumber Kekuatan Rohani yang Terbesar

Kekuatan Terbesar dari dalam diri seseorang adalah Iman yang bekerja oleh Kasih. Dan Sumber Kekuatan Rohani Terbesar bagi orang percaya adalah Korban Kristus di Kayu Salib.

Kekuatan Terbesar di Dunia

Kelemahan Terbesar di dunia adalah Ketidakpercayaan. Kekuatan Terbesar adalah IMAN yang bekerja dengan KASIH. Kasih, belas kasihan, dan kasih karunia selalu terkait dengan iman.

Ketakutan adalah lawan dari iman dan ketakutan juga tidak ada di dalam kasih. Hati orang yang dipenuhi dengan iman dan kasih surgawi, tidak takut tertinggal bila Yesus datang.

Dunia dipenuhi dengan ketakutan, siksaan, penyesalan, dan kegagalan, tetapi iman dan kasih pasti bisa mengatasinya. (Matius 9:27-29; Lukas 17:5-6)

(By: Smith.W.)

Firman Allah dan Roh Kudus

Ada ribuan orang yang membaca dan mempelajari Firman Allah. Tetapi itu tidak menghidupkan mereka. Alkitab adalah huruf yang mati, kecuali dengan Roh. Firman Allah tidak akan pernah bisa hidup dan berkuasa di dalam kita, kecuali dengan Roh. Firman yang diucapkan Kristus adalah roh dan hidup.

Adalah suatu berkat jika mengetahui bahwa Firman Allah tidak pernah gagal, tidak pernah mendengarkan rencana manusia. Allah bisa bekerja dengan kuat ketika Anda tetap percaya kepadaNya meskipun pendapat manusia mematahkan semangat. (Yesaya 55:10-11; 40:8; Mazmur 119:105)

(By: Smith.W.)

Abraham - Sahabat Allah

Abraham menjadi sahabat Allah dengan cara, mempercayai-Nya. Dia mempercayai Allah, dan Allah memperhitungkan hal itu kepadanya sebagai kebenaran. Kebenaran dihubungkan dengan Abraham karena tidak ada yang ia percayai selain Allah.

Apakah ini berlaku bagi orang lain??? Jawabannya adalah YA. Setiap orang di dunia yang diselamatkan oleh iman, diberkati sama seperti Abraham yang setia. Abraham menerima janji karena dia percaya janji Allah, bahwa, melalui dia, semua bangsa di bumi akan diberkati. Ketika kita kepada Allah, berkat iman kita tidak akan pernah berakhir. (Mazmur 5:9,12-13; Efesus 1:3)

(By: Smith.W.)

Dalam Yesus, Hidupku Berharga

Saya adalah seorang narapidana, yang sejak tahun 1990 dihukum dalam penjara karena membunuh orang, dan masih menjalani hukuman pidana ini. Latar belakang agama saya dulunya adalah Budha, kemudian saya menjadi Muslim sebelum masuk penjara. Tetapi setelah menjadi narapidana saya menerima Yesus Kristus menjadi Tuhan dan Juruselamat hidupku. Saya mengalami banyak restorasi mental dan kebangunan iman lewat khotbah-khotbah dari bapak yang saya dengar lewat radio, khususnya dalam program Hari ini harinya Tuhan.

Saya bernama Ekawijaya, dari etnis Tiong Hoa. Saya adalah mantan pecandu narkotika, pernah terikat dengan okultisme, pernah mengalami gangguan mental, saya memiliki sifat yang sangat minder, pernah mengalami gangguan seksualitas yang menyimpang, dan masih banyak kerusakan jiwa yang saya alami, sehingga saya merasa hidup saya sungguh tidak berarti sama sekali, (itu dulu).

Tetapi Puji Tuhan saat ini Roh Kudus sedang memulihkan hidupku, dan salah satu caranya adalah lewat khotbah dari bapak Gilbert yang saya dengarkan. Melalui firman Tuhan yang bapak sampaikan itulah saya lebih banyak mengerti akan kasih Tuhan dalam hidup saya, dan saya tahu bahwa hidup saya sangat berharga bagi Tuhan. Saya mengalami banyak perubahan dan pembaharuan dalam hidup saya, dan saya tahu itu semua karena Tuhan.

Di dalam penjara saya banyak menciptakan lagu-lagu rohani, dan lagu-lagu tersebut adalah kesaksian hidupku, dari seorang yang sangat hancur kehidupannya dalam dosa, menjadi seorang yang diselamatkan dan dipulihkan oleh kasih karunia Tuhan Yesus Kristus. Karena saya masih berstatus narapidana, maka lagu-lagu itu juga adalah pesan untuk seluruh orang-orang buangan yang hina dina, yakni para narapidana, eks narapidana, orang-orang yang putus asa dan depresi, yang merasa tersudut tanpa ada yang mengasihi dirinya, orang-orang frustasi akibat kekejaman hidup duniawi (yakni orang-orang yang tercatat dalam Matius 25:35-40).

Banyak sekali, karena seseorang merasa bahwa dirinya sudah tidak lagi bernilai atau berharga, sehingga dia nekad melakukan segala jenis kejahatan yang lebih besar lagi. Pada hal, menurut khotbah yang bapak sampaikan dalam kitab Hakim-hakim pasal 11, tentang kehidupan Yefta, semua orang yang latar belakang hidupnya seburuk apapun adalah berharga di mata Tuhan. Dan pada saat seseorang itu sadar bahwa dirinya bernilai dimata Tuhan, maka Roh Kudus menggali potensi dan talenta yang ada didalam diri orang itu, untuk disalurkan kearah yang positif dan memberkati banyak orang.

Seperti saya, setelah dilahirkan kembali dalam air dan Roh, barulah saya sadar bahwa sangat banyak potensi yang Tuhan tanam dalam diriku, yang selama sekian puluh tahun disembunyikan oleh iblis (seperti mencipta lagu, menulis buku, main musik dll). Tetapi, seperti banyaknya jenis tumbuhan yang tidak bisa bertumbuh dengan baik tanpa punya penopang, begitulah saya, saya juga membutuhkan dukungan orang lain.

Untuk siapapun yang membaca kesaksian saya ini, ingatlah bahwa hidup ini sangat berarti, jadi jangan sia-siakan dan jangan biarkan iblis menipu serta menawan hidupmu lebih lama lagi.

DARI: EKAWIJAYA - MEDAN

Occult Check List

When counselling people for deliverance, it is important that all occultic involvement is exposed, including that of ancestors, where possible, as it opens the door for curses. Here is a list of things to check for - which can be handed to the person seeking deliverance.

APPENDIX 1: OCCULT CHECK LIST

Possible Demonic Entry Points:

[ ] Abstract art (under hallucinogenic stimulus)

[ ] Acupuncture

[ ] Amulets (tigers claw, sharks tooth, horseshoe over door, mascots, talisman (magic picture)

[ ] Ankh (a cross with a ring top used in satanic rites)

[ ] Apparitions - occultic

[ ] Astral travel

[ ] Astrology

[ ] Augury (interpreting omens)

[ ] Automatic writing

[ ] Birth signs

[ ] Black arts

[ ] Black magic (involving hidden powers for bad ends)

[ ] Black mass

[ ] Blood subscriptions (pacts)

[ ] Cartomancy (using playing cards)

[ ] Chain letters

[ ] Charming or enchanting (attempts to use spirit power)

[ ] Charms and charming for wart removal

[ ] Chinese astrology

[ ] Clairaudience (ability to hear voices and sounds super-normally - spirited voices alleging to be those of dead people giving advice or warnings)

[ ] Clairsentience (supernormal sense perception)

[ ] Clairvoyance (ability to see objects or events spontaneously or supernormally above their normal range of vision - second sight)

[ ] Colour therapy

[ ] Concept therapy

[ ] Conjuration (summoning up a spirit by incantation)

[ ] Coven (a community of witches)

[ ] Crystal ball gazing

[ ] Crystals

[ ] Death magic (where the name of the sickness plus a written spell is cast into coffin or grave)

[ ] Demon worship

[ ] Disembodied spirits

[ ] Divining rod or twig or pendulum (Hosea 4:12)

[ ] Dowsing or witching for water, minerals, under-ground cables, finding out the sex of unborn child using divining rod, pendulum, twig or planchette

[ ] Dream interpretation (as with Edgar Cayce books)

[ ] Dungeons and dragons

[ ] Eastern meditation/religious - Gurus, Mantras, Yoga, Temples etc

[ ] Ectoplasm (unknown substance from body of a medium)

[ ] Enchanting

[ ] E.S.P. (extra sensory perception)

[ ] Findhorn Community

[ ] Floating trumpets

[ ] Fortune telling

[ ] Gothic rock music

[ ] Gurus

[ ] Gypsy curses

[ ] Hallucinogenic drugs (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, sniffing glue etc)

[ ] Handwriting analysis (for fortune telling)

[ ] Hard rock music - Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones

[ ] Heavy metal music - AC/DC, Guns and Roses (all heavy rock)

[ ] Hepatoscopy (examination of liver for interpretation)

[ ] Hex signs (hexagrams)

[ ] Horoscopes

[ ] Hydromancy (divination by viewing images in water)

[ ] Hypnosis

[ ] Idols

[ ] Incantations

[ ] Iridology (eye diagnosis)

[ ] Japanese flower arranging (sun worship)

[ ] Jonathan Livingstone Seagull (Reincarnation, Hinduism)

[ ] Kabbala (Occult Lore)

[ ] Karma

[ ] Levitation

[ ] Lucky charms or signs of the Zodiac or birthstones

[ ] Magic (not sleight of hand but use of supernatural power)

[ ] Mantras

[ ] Martial arts (Aikido, Judo, Karate, Kung fu, Tae Kwan Do etc)

[ ] Matthew Manning

[ ] Mediums

[ ] Mental suggestion

[ ] Mental telepathy

[ ] Mental therapy

[ ] Mesmerism

[ ] Metaphysics (study of spirit world)

[ ] Mind control

[ ] Mind Dynamics

[ ] Mind mediumship

[ ] Mind reading

[ ] Moon-mancy

[ ] Motorskopua (mechanical pendulum for diagnosing illness)

[ ] Mysticism

[ ] Necromancy (conjuring up spirits of the dead)

[ ] Numerical symbolism

[ ] Numerology

[ ] Occultic games

[ ] Occult letters of protection

[ ] Occult literature, eg The Greater World, The 6th & 7th Book of Moses, The Other side, The book of Venus, Pseudo-Christian works of Jacob Lorber, works by Edgar Cayce, Aleister Crowley, Jean Dixon, Levi Dowling, Arthur Ford (The Overt Worship of Spirit Beings), Johann Greber, Andrew Jackson Davis, Anton Le Vay, Ruth Montgomery, John Newborough, Eric Von Daniken, Dennis Wheatley.

* Such books should be burned, regardless of cost.

[ ] Omens

[ ] Ouija boards

[ ] Pagan fetishes

[ ] Pagan religious objects, artifacts and relics

[ ] Pagan rites (Voodo, Sing sings, Corroborees, Fire walking, Umbahda, Macumba)

[ ] Palmistry

[ ] Pk (parakineses - control of objects by the power of the mind and will)

[ ] Parapsychology (PS) - especially study of demonic activity

[ ] Pendulum diagnosis

[ ] Phrenology (divining/analysis from the skull)

[ ] Planchette (divining)

[ ] Precognition (foreknowledge of the occurrence of events)

[ ] Psychic healing

[ ] Psychic sight

[ ] Psychography (use of heart shaped board)

[ ] Psychometry (telling fortunes by lifting or holding object belonging to the enquirer)

[ ] Punk rock music

[ ] Pyramidology (mystic powers associated with models of pyramids)

[ ] Rebirthing

[ ] Reincarnation

[ ] Rhabdomancy (casting sticks into the air for interpreting omens)

[ ] Satanism

[ ] Seances

[ ] Self hypnosis

[ ] Significant pagan days

[ ] Silva Mind Control (SMC - Psychorientology)

[ ] Sorcery

[ ] Spells

[ ] Spirit knockings or rappings

[ ] Star signs

[ ] Stichomancy (fortune telling from random reference to books)

[ ] Stigmata - ie occultic types.

[ ] Superstitions (self or parents or grandparents)

[ ] Table tipping

[ ] Tarot cards (22 picture cards for fortune telling)

[ ] Tea-leaf reading

[ ] Thought transference

[ ] Tk (telekineses - objects move around room, instruments play, engines start...)

[ ] TM (Transcendental Meditation

[ ] Trances

[ ] Transmigration

[ ] Travel of the soul

[ ] UFO fixation

[ ] Uri Geller

[ ] White magic (invoking hid-den powers for `good ends')

[ ] Witchcraft

[ ] Yoga (involves Eastern demon worship

[ ] Zodiac charms, birthdates

[ ] Zodiac signs

_* Acts 19:19: "Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver."

_* Deuteronomy 7:25&26: "You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it; but you shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing."

APPENDIX 2: NON CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS AND CULTS

_* 1 Timothy 4:1 says: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons..."

Ananda Marga Yoga Society, Anthroposophical Society (Eurythmy, Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf Schools); Astara, Bubba Free John; Bahai; Buddhism; Children of God (Family of Love); Christadelphians; Christian Science; Church of the Living Word (John Robert Stevens "The Walk"); Church Universal and Triumphant (Elizabeth Clare Prophet); Confucianism; Divine Light Mission (Guru Maharaj Ji); Druids Lodge; ECKANKAR (Paul Twitchell); EnlightmentFreemasonry; Gurdjieff/Subud/Renaiisance (Esoteric Christianity); Hare Krishna; Hinduism (Karma, reincarnation, avatars, Bhagavad-Gita, Yoga, T.M.); Holy Order of MANS; Inner Peace Movement; International Community of the Christ/The Jamilans; Jehovah's WitnessesMormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints); Mukatananda Paramahansa (Siddha Yoga Dham Centres); Neo-Gnosticism; New Age Movement; Nichiren Shoshu/Soka Gakkai (NSA Lotus Sutra); Rastafarianism; Ratanaism; Religious Science; Rev Ike (Frederick Eikeren Koetter); Rev Sun Myung Moon (Moonies, Unification Church); Rosecruicianism (AMORC); Sathya Sai Baba; Scientology (L. Ron Hubbard Dianetics); Self Realisation Fellowship; Sharmanism; Shintoism; Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship; Spiritualism/Spiritism; Sri Chimnoy; Swami Kriyananda; Swami Rami; Swami Vivekananda (Vedanta Society); Swedenborgianism; Taoism; Theosophy; Urantia; Unity School of Christianity (Charles Myrtle and Lowell Fillmore); Yogi Bhajan (Sikh Foundation/3HO Foundation); Zen. (heightened awareness, nirvana, satori, transcendental bliss, god-realisation, expanded consciousness, altered perception of reality, cosmic consciousness etc); Esalen Institute (Michael Murphy); e.s.t. (Erhard Seminar Training); Foundation faith of the Millenium (Robert de Grimston); Foundation of Human Understanding (Roy Masters); (Dawn Bible Students); Krisnamurti Foundation of America; Meher Baba (Sufism Reorientated Inc); Mind Sciences;