FEATURED ARCHIVE - UGANDA: INTERNATIONAL PRAYER CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO END CHILD SACRIFICE
In October last year, seven-year-old Allan Ssembatya was walking home from school with friends when he was kidnapped.
A frantic search followed before he was found, whimpering, under a bush, laying in a pool of his own blood. He had suffered injuries that can only be described as horrific – an axe had torn open his skull and a section removed. He had been stabbed in the neck and had been castrated.
Allan, who lives in the Kayunga District of Uganda - just to the north of the capital of Kampala, is one of the many children taken each year by people looking for children to sacrifice to their gods. Thankfully Allan survived his wounds – although a stroke caused as a result of the horrific attack has left him with epilepsy and weakness and numbness in one arm – but many don’t.
One organisation attempting to tackle the rising problem is Uganda-based Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM) which aims to help vulnerable children. Its data, based on police information, shows that the numbers of children believed to have been killed or disappeared as a result of child sacrifice are growing.
DAVID ADAMS speaks to Pastor Peter M. Sewakiryanga about a campaign to end the tragedy of child sacrifice in Uganda...|
more... |
"(Within the church) I don’t think there’s
an apathy in trying to work hard or build something or make
something work but I think that when it comes to really trusting
Jesus, for some reason we have just kind of subtly fallen
into the belief that Christ alone is not sufficient; that
we need Christ plus other things to help us or we’re
not going to get it done; that God alone is not going to be
enough to reach this culture. I’m in my forties but
I’m finding guys younger than me are really trying to
find some kind of method or program or strategy that will
help them become the next Hillsong or something like that.
God’s not always trying to build a Hillsong or a Times
Square church, sometimes He wants the church to be 200 people
that are really serving the community faithfully and reaching
prisoners or homeless kids. God is very creative and has different
callings on different lives."
Gary
Wilkerson, 47, is the son of renowned evangelist David Wilkerson
(co-author of The Cross and the Switchblade, founder
of Teen Challenge, pastor of New York's Times Square Church
- the list goes on). In Australia to preach at a series of
conferences with his father, Gary spoke with DAVID ADAMS...| more...|
'APPALLING' COST OF CONFLICT IN AFRICA EXPOSED IN OXFAM REPORT
The African economy is drained of as much as $US18 billion very year thanks to armed conflicts with as much as $US284 billion lost over the 15 years to 2005, according to new research released by Oxfam this week.
The report - Africa’s Missing Billions - found that, on average, a war, civil war or insurgency shrinks an African economy by 15 per cent.
“Armed violence is one of the greatest threats to development in Africa,” said Irungu Houghton, African policy advisor at Oxfam, who conducted the research with the backing of non-government organisations International Action Network on Small Arms and Saferworld. “The costs are shocking”. DAVID ADAMS reports...| more... |
HERE YOU'LL FIND COLUMNS THAT ARE NO LONGER BEING UPDATED...
SPOTLIGHT
The Spotlight column has been archived. You can now find it here... |
more...|
WHAT
WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE JESUS PRO-AM?
9th
May, 2005
Pete
Hunt is the media contact for the Christian Surfers competition,
the Jesus Pro Am.
"There
were many highlights of this year’s Jesus Pro Am: the
incredible surfing, the great weather and waves that God blessed
the event with (despite the forecast), the inspiring work
of all the Christian Surfers crew and local church members,
and more. However, probably the biggest highlight of the Jesus
Pro Am for me was witnessing the name of Jesus proclaimed
so boldly at my local beach, Cronulla. Cronulla is a very
secular place at the best of times and to see even the ‘Jesus
Pro Am’ banner or the Christian Surfers logos on the
many tents at the event is a great thing. But the event went
further. There was the win-a-surfboard competition, where
entrants had to look up various verses from the Surfers Bible
and then answer important questions about who the Bible says
Jesus is and then who they thought he is. There were also
the event commentators, who on regular occasions during their
commentary explained to all within reach of the loud speakers
who Jesus is and what He means to us as Christians. There
was also the church service in the park behind the beach held
on the Sunday by the Beachside Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
And finally there was the Gospel presentation given by ‘Mousey’
during the presentation at the conclusion of the event, where
the strong crowd of locals and competitors heard who Jesus
is and what He has done for them through His death and resurrection.
The Jesus Pro Am was truly a blessing for Cronulla."
Click
here for an image gallery
from the Jesus Pro Am...
Why a Christmas album? “It’s Christmas - that’s the easy answer. I’ve done a Christmas album before. I did one a few years ago with a German orchestra actually...It was your regular kind of Christmas album - it had some carols and it had Santa Claus is Coming to Town and all that stuff on it and it was instrumental only. I thought it was time to do a bit more of a focused Christmas album; one a little bit more on what Christmas is really about. So this is just carols and also I’m got Emma Pask singing on there with me because I wanted people to hear the lyrics. So, yeah, just a bit more focused...a real Christmas album, is how I think of it.”
Musical virtuoso James Morrison has just released his latest album, Christmas. The 44-year-old speaks to DAVID ADAMS about Christmas, the power of music and what he’d be doing if he wasn’t a musician...|
more... |
I hear from God when...I am alert to the possibility that God can and does speak at any time through scripture, experience, circumstance, worship, creation, or the person (people) I happen to be with at the time.
We talk to Rev David Pitman, moderator of the Uniting Church in Queensland......|
more...|
RIGHT-OF-REPLY: WHY RICHARD DAWKINS IS WRONG
Like
all atheists, Richard Dawkins does not understand the concept
of God and why God exists. He has been told this before, as
he writes in his book, The God Delusion: "This
is as good a moment as any to forestall an inevitable retort
to the book, one that would otherwise - as sure as night follows
day - turn up in a review: ‘The God that Dawkins doesn’t
believe in is a God that I don’t believe in either.
I don‘t believe in an old man in the sky with a long
white beard.'...I am attacking God, all gods, anything and
everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been
or will be invented."
In this essay, I will try to succeed where others have
failed so that we can say of Dawkins, “And immediately
there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received
sight forthwith...”
Dawkins is an atheist because he places too much confidence
in the methods and ideas of science. Working scientists are
just people living their lives in a practical and reasonable
manner. If something unusual occurs in the lab, scientists
assumes there is a reason and try to replicate what happened.
This is the same kind of common sense and reason mothers use
when they assume there has been no change in the number of
children they have when they are out shopping.
DAVID ROEMER answers the arguments in Richard
Dawkin's book, The God Delusion...|
more... |
HERE YOU'LL FIND LIFESTYLE COLUMNS THAT ARE NO LONGER BEING UPDATED...
LIFETIPS: RE-REGISTER FOR THE DO NOT CALL LIST
LifeTips is a Sight column for short tips that help make life easier. Do you have a tip or an idea that others could benefit from? Just add it on the Your Say at the bottom of the LifeTips page or simply send us an email to lifetips@sightmagazine.com.au.
7th December, 2009
RE-REGISTER FOR THE DO NOT CALL LIST: Most Australians have probably heard of the Do Not Call list - where to date more than four million people have listed their phone number to protect against some unsolicited marketing calls (there are exceptions for organisations like charities, government bodies and political candidates) - but you may not be aware the listings have a time limit of three years...
GOOD EATING:
GET YOUR TASTEBUDS TINGLING WITH INDONESIAN DISHES CHICKEN SATAY AND GADO-GADO Both chicken satay and gado-gado are traditional Indonesian meals that I experienced when travelling there a couple of years ago. The satay are popular with tourists - immediately likeable, they are familiar chicken skewers often topped with a spicy peanut sauce.
Gado-gado is a little different, but is a good option for vegetarians and tastes awesome. The salad is served cold atop cold or lukewarm potatoes, tofu and eggs, with the only heated ingredient being the sauce.
The common use of peanut sauce makes partnering these dishes an obvious choice, and one that will leave your taste buds tingling for more!
"JAMIE
CROOKIVER" enjoys some Asian flavours...|
more...|
If I mention the word olive, does your mind turn to a particular
paint colour, perhaps a dear old aunty who dates from the
early 1900s or Popeye’s famous girlfriend “Olive
Oil”? Or you might relate them to food, perhaps the
ever present black olive on your weekend pizza. In this case,
olives are a bit like anchovies: most people either love or
hate them.
Recent research is indicating that virgin olive oil is extremely
good for your health and it is frequently listed in the “must
have foods” section of many fat reduction and weight
loss diets. The olive tree (Olea europaea) is also
making a big comeback in Australian gardens.
GRAHAM LEWIS takes a look at the Mediterranean olive,
a Biblical fruit tree on the comeback...|
more...|
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THEY SAID IT
"This is a long journey and there is still much more to be done. The displacement of people, the violence directed towards them, needs to stop."
- US President Barack Obama speaking to Burma's President Thein Sein during the latter's visit to the White House this week - the first such visit in almost 50 years (as quoted on www.washingtonpost.com on 21st May, 2013). For more of They Said It, follow the link... | more... |
THIS WEEK ON THE WEB
16th May, 2013
Writing in Eureka Street, Frank Brennan explains why it is time Australia committed to negotiating final maritime boundaries with East Timor. You can read the article here...
For previous 'This week on the web'... | more... |
Sight now has a Pinterest page where you can see some of our images. To see it, head here...
MUSINGS
YOUTH...
23rd May, 2013
PAUL CLARK
Haven’t times changed since we were young? These days our young people face relentless pressure to abuse alcohol, drugs, sex; you name it!
We are seeing a generation grow up in a vacuum of values where violence is all too common.
This is no time to sit on your hands. If we want our children to grow up as healthy, responsible adults, we must give them safe, healthy communities to be a part of; where they can develop the internal strength of character to see them through.
Musings is a regularly updated, column featuring short snippets reflecting on daily life from a Christian perspective...|
more...
|
INSECTS ON THE MENU?; A 'SPACE ODDITY'; BACK FROM THE DEAD; AND, A FOUR-YEAR-OLD MAYOR...
Insects already form part of the diet of an estimated two billion people but they may well be on even more menus in the future as experts look to alternative means of feeding people. The Food and Agriculture Organisation says that insects (and there are about a million known species) could provide a "readily available source of nutritious and protein-rich food".
DAVID
ADAMS writes about the odder side of life...|
more... |
THOUSANDS OF EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS JAM STREETS FOR 'HOLY FIRE' CEREMONY... While Roman Catholics and Protestants in Israel and across the world celebrated Easter Sunday on 31st March this year, for hundreds of millions of Eastern Orthodox in Russia, Ukraine, Greece, the Holy Land and elsewhere the highlight of Easter 2013 came on Saturday, 4th May, when tens of thousands of the faithful packed Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher to witness the Holy Fire ceremony marking the resurrection of the Christian messiah.
MEMORIAL TO QUAKER SERVICE INAUGURATED AT UK'S NATIONAL ARBORETUM...
A memorial to Quaker service opened at the National Arboretum at Alrewas near Lichfield on 20th April. It commemorates the work of the Friends Ambulance Unit and Friends Relief Service during World War II.
The Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) was an independent body led by Quakers but open to all. During the Second World War over 1,300 men and women served in 25 countries, building a record of goodwill and positive service.
It's Easter week and I'm watching that delicious softness in the autumn atmosphere start to blur the sharpness of summer down here in southern Victoria. The dry grass in the paddocks has the colour and look of a grommie's* surf-bleached hair - all oaten white and fly away, the sunrises pastel soft and the shadows at the end of the day are long in the golden light before slow sunset. Summer crowds recede and Easter tides increase.
It's back! ANN
WOJCZUK's blog about life, the universe and possibly everything...|
more... |
EVERYTHING IS RELATIONAL...
Over the last year or so I've been realising how everything in life is related to our relationships, whether we realise it or not. All of our interactions are either constructive or destructive for our relating. That's why life is so difficult. I thought of saying during a sermon once that life is easy until you have to relate to someone! It is for this reason that doing our best to get our relationships to work is the most important thing we can do with our lives.
NILS VON KALM'S blog on faith, life and how it all might fit together...|
more... |
OUT OF AFRICA: TAKING YOUR BLESSINGS FOR GRANTED...
I have been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I was living in Australia. Sadly much of that blessing was in a sense ‘lost on me’ because I didn’t see it for what it was. The longer I live here the more I realise the day-to-day difficulties people face in the majority of the world. I am amazed that people are able to keep their hope when so many things seem so difficult.
Things I have always taken for granted - access to water, nutritious food and good medical assistance - are, at times, just not available here. I am horrified at the number of times people come back from our local medical clinic saying that there is no medicine or even occasionally no doctor.
LENA JOHNSTONE's blog about life in Malawi, Africa, where she works with the Mphatso Children's Foundation...|
more... |
THE STOREROOM: HOW TO ABOLISH SLAVERY? GUEST POST BY THE APOSTLE PAUL... From Paul a servant of Christ Jesus, and Richard his brother.
So, as I wrote, my hope was that in the homes of the Church in Ephesus the relationships between slaves and masters would be transformed.
Also, I left Timothy in Ephesus and wrote this to him: “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers – and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me.”
Emphasis is mine. Well, actually, the whole thing is mine.
RICHARD THOMAS' sometimes weird and sometimes wonderful 'storeroom' of ideas...|
more... |
FOR
SIGHT'S BLOG LINKS, HEAD TO OUR BLOGSPOT PAGE...
In October last year, seven-year-old Allan Ssembatya was walking home from school with friends when he was kidnapped.
"(Within the church) I don’t think there’s
an apathy in trying to work hard or build something or make
something work but I think that when it comes to really trusting
Jesus, for some reason we have just kind of subtly fallen
into the belief that Christ alone is not sufficient; that
we need Christ plus other things to help us or we’re
not going to get it done; that God alone is not going to be
enough to reach this culture. I’m in my forties but
I’m finding guys younger than me are really trying to
find some kind of method or program or strategy that will
help them become the next Hillsong or something like that.
God’s not always trying to build a Hillsong or a Times
Square church, sometimes He wants the church to be 200 people
that are really serving the community faithfully and reaching
prisoners or homeless kids. God is very creative and has different
callings on different lives."
9th
May, 2005
Like
all atheists, Richard Dawkins does not understand the concept
of God and why God exists. He has been told this before, as
he writes in his book, The God Delusion: "This
is as good a moment as any to forestall an inevitable retort
to the book, one that would otherwise - as sure as night follows
day - turn up in a review: ‘The God that Dawkins doesn’t
believe in is a God that I don’t believe in either.
I don‘t believe in an old man in the sky with a long
white beard.'...I am attacking God, all gods, anything and
everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been
or will be invented." 
Both chicken satay and gado-gado are traditional Indonesian meals that I experienced when travelling there a couple of years ago. The satay are popular with tourists - immediately likeable, they are familiar chicken skewers often topped with a spicy peanut sauce. 
If I mention the word olive, does your mind turn to a particular
paint colour, perhaps a dear old aunty who dates from the
early 1900s or Popeye’s famous girlfriend “Olive
Oil”? Or you might relate them to food, perhaps the
ever present black olive on your weekend pizza. In this case,
olives are a bit like anchovies: most people either love or
hate them.
THOUSANDS OF EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS JAM STREETS FOR 'HOLY FIRE' CEREMONY...
