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...
HEALTH INSIGHT:
THE ANNUAL PANDEMIC HOAX?
2010 brings in the dawn of a new decade – remember the start of the last decade? I can remember going and restarting all my computers at about 12.05am on 1st January, 2000 – to check if they were still alive – they were. No aeroplanes dropped out of the skies. The banks didn’t misplace all our money. Everything that contained a microchip didn’t cease to tell the time. But how many millions of dollars were spent on policies, procedures, software and hardware to try and avoid the “millennium bug”?
In more recent years we have had a threat of a devastating annual bug forced upon us by every form of media, medicine and politics – the annual infectious pandemic hoax: mad cow disease, bird flu and more recently the swine flu. Which animal hosted microbe will we be scare mongered by in 2010?
Using 20-20 hindsight what have been the major outcomes of each pandemic threat?
Dr NICK HODGSON gives his view on what he calls the "annual pandemic hoax"... |
more...|
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...
News that criminals are buying personal identities for around $1 should come as no great surprise.
In an age where almost everything from cash to family contact is being digitised, it's not hard to see huge opportunities for scams large and small.
According to a new study on internet security, fraudsters can now buy your credit card details, your name, address and date of birth for less than the cost of a can of coke.
Data collected from over 200 countries showed 349.6 billion spam messages were sent in 2008, a 192 per cent increase on the previous year.
In the midst of all this, more and more people are handing over details of their identities to criminals, via phishing websites. These are designed to mirror trustworthy web pages, and users are fooled into giving away their username, password and even bank details.
MAL FLETCHER outlines some simple steps you can take to help prevent the likelihood of becoming a victim of fraud when online...|
more...|
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...|
"While we need to acknowledge that there's a real anger, frustration and hurt that exists in some indigenous communities around Australia, we must not give in to aggressive and disrespectful actions ourselves."
-
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda speaking on ABC radio after an Australia Day incident in which, in extraordinary scenes, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was swept from a Canberra restaurant by bodyguards after a group of chanting protestors from the Aboriginal tent embassy descended on the building. She lost a shoe in the process which was later returned (as quoted on www.ninemsn.com.au on 26th January, 2012). For previous 'They said it'... | more... |
THIS WEEK ON THE WEB
3rd February, 2012
Ahead of the upcoming National Day of Prayer and Fasting on 19th February, organiser Pastor Matt Prater has recorded a cover of the MC Hammer rap song, Pray. To download and listen to it, follow this link (2.2 MB). For more on the National Day of Prayer and Fasting, see www.nationaldayofprayer.com.au...
For previous 'This week on the web'... | more... |
NEW! SIGHT SOAPBOX
Something that you want to get off your chest but just haven't had the opportunity? Sight's Soapbox is a new feature allowing you to have your say on a subject of your choice!
ECUMENICAL FUND HELPS SMALL FILIPINO ENTREPRENEURS
It is harvest time for strawberries in the northern Philippine town of La Trinidad, so strawberry farmer Alice Rivera will start repaying a loan extended by a Geneva-based ecumenical church loan fund.
"This is what we appreciate...we can start repaying our loans only immediately after the harvest season starts," said Rivera, who is 45. She is just one of 7,000 clients being served by the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund-Philippines (Eclof-Philippines), whose initial seed fund was provided by Eclof International, a non-profit micro-finance organisation.
Rivera, a widow and mother of a nine-year old son, has started harvesting strawberries from a 500-square-meter lot that she leases from the farm of Benguet State University, an agricultural school.
QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT HELLO KITTY'S ORIGINS; THE RETURN OF OTTO VON BISMARCK'S VOICE; AND, THE BACKWARDS TALKING GIRL...
Questions are apparently being asked about the citizenship of iconic cat cutie Hello Kitty following the publication of a new book, Hello Kitty’s Guide to Japan in English and Japanese. According to the official biography published by Sanrio, the company that owns the rights to her, Hello Kitty (real name Kitty White) was born in London.
DAVID
ADAMS writes about the odder side of life...|
more... |
BYZANTINE-ERA BREAD STAMP DISCOVERY IN AKKO SHEDS LIGHT ON JEWISH LIFE... A small ceramic stamp used to mark bakery produce may not seem like a significant archeological find, but Israeli archeologists are rather excited by such a discovery made near the northern coastal town of Akko.
In previous eras, Akko was known as Acre, and was a major Christian stronghold in the Holy Land. That is why interest has been piqued by the small ceramic stamp bearing an image of the seven-branched Temple Menorah, which was found in a controlled archeological dig at Horbat Uza just outside Akko.
The stamp dates back to the 6th century AD, a time when Akko was a Christian-dominated city under the Byzantine Empire.
One of the central themes of Jesus’ ministry on earth was unity. Prior to His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus prayed that those who followed Him “may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:20). But unity has often proved elusive, especially for the many Christian denominations represented in the small, but holy city of Jerusalem.
RYAN JONES, of Travelujah, reports in Sight's blog on the history and culture of Israel...|
more... |
OUT OF AFRICA: AN ANNIVERSARY...
Recently it was a year since we left Australia; so today it’s a year since we arrived in Malawi. I have caught myself thinking a couple of times; ‘Would I have come if I had known what I would experience here’? If I had really understood what it would mean to leave everyone and everything familiar and to adjust my life to another culture? To be constantly observed, whether in my home or out, to live my life in such a public manner? Would I have come if I had known the things I would see, dying babies, people ravaged with disease, people suffering with malnutrition?
LENA JOHNSTONE's blog about life in Malawi, Africa, where she works with the Mphatso Children's Foundation...|
more... |
NEW! THE STOREROOM: CONVERSATIONS WITH THE EDITOR... Usually we meet for lunch but on this occasion we had an early start travelling to Westminster to hear Alistair McGrath on the King James Bible. It was excellent. Then a Wycliffe Bible translator talked about his story of translating the Bible into a language spoken by 14,000.
I asked the editor what he thought about that and whether there were some languages spoken by too few people (who speak other languages) to justify the translation effort. He said that it would always be preferable for people to read it in their won tongue. I can’t imagine even having to manage with one English translation so I suppose he may be right on this occasion.
RICHARD THOMAS' sometimes weird and sometimes wonderful 'storeroom' of ideas...|
more... |
TIREDNESS, FRUSTRATION AND TRUST...
In the U2 song, Peace on Earth, Bono sings of his frustration about our constant talk of peace without it ever really happening. Peace, peace when there is no peace is the cry of the prophet he is echoing. All around we see power corrupting and people in power getting their way at the expense of those with no power. Over and over again it happens.
I have no trust in political and economic systems. Ultimately I trust more in Jesus, whose power did not corrupt and through whom our desires for power are redeemed. John Smith asked a question many years ago which is a challenge for everyone who claims to be a serious follower of Jesus. The question is this: who are your friends and who are your enemies? The point he was making is that, when you look at the life of Jesus, His friends were overwhelmingly the powerless, the marginalised and the oppressed. And His enemies were overwhelmingly the rich, the powerful and the oppressors.
NILS VON KALM'S blog on faith, life and how it all might fit together...|
more... |
FOR
SIGHT'S BLOG LINKS, HEAD TO OUR BLOGSPOT PAGE...
24th September, 2008: Hear DAVID ADAMS speaking to GURYEL ALI, of 96.3 Rhema FM in Geelong, talking about some of the stories featured on Sight...|
more... |
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writers, illustrators and photographers to join the Sight team (please note that all Sight contributors are presently volunteers) - use the
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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." 
2010 brings in the dawn of a new decade – remember the start of the last decade? I can remember going and restarting all my computers at about 12.05am on 1st January, 2000 – to check if they were still alive – they were. No aeroplanes dropped out of the skies. The banks didn’t misplace all our money. Everything that contained a microchip didn’t cease to tell the time. But how many millions of dollars were spent on policies, procedures, software and hardware to try and avoid the “millennium bug”?
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.
In the U2 song, Peace on Earth, Bono sings of his frustration about our constant talk of peace without it ever really happening. Peace, peace when there is no peace is the cry of the prophet he is echoing. All around we see power corrupting and people in power getting their way at the expense of those with no power. Over and over again it happens.