As we carefully read, and closely attend to, John's first letter, we have confronted the writer's emphatic celebration of love. Agape is nothing less than the purpose of life. It is that which is found within the ever-widening household, a family circle which God is gathering as His own special place of dwelling.

     We have noted to our benefit that the letter informs us of the writer's developing self-understanding, having been conquered by this love, this perfected love (Agape) which banishes all fear (I John 4:18).

     John's letter and all that it contains, and all that it anticipates for the future, is inextricably bound up in the wonderful and life-changing events that he has recounted in his Gospel. He has recounted these things because they have burst in upon him, as the light which scatters the darkness that prevailed before the dawn! And now we read the first of two more personal letters, this one to a "much favoured woman". Such an ascription reminds us of the words of the angelic messenger uttered some decades earlier to the young woman who would give birth to Jesus: "Cast off all fear, Mary, for your are much favoured with God!" (Luke 1:14).

      In his series on the epistles of John, BRUCE C WEARNE takes a look at II John...  | more... |

OPEN BOOK SOUNDBITE: BRUCE C. WEARNE has made some audio recordings to accompany his series on the letters of John. In the second of the series, Bruce takes a closer look at John. You can listen to it here... (11.4MB, 7.56 minutes)...

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BRUCE C WEARNE's introductory recording to the Letters of John can be found here... (5.9MB file, 3.04 minutes)...

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CHRISTIAN AND ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS JOIN TO ADVOCATE AGAINST COCKFIGHTING

A group of theologically conservative American Christian leaders is joining with animal rights defenders to advocate against cockfighting, calling the practice of watching and betting on roosters who fight to the death antithetical to Biblical values.

     "Christians should stand up and speak out against this barbaric practice which horrendously abuses God's creatures," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in a 24th January statement.

     Concern about cockfighting is focused on the state of South Carolina, where critics of the practice are trying to strengthen the state's laws against it. Though cockfighting is illegal in all 50 US states, it remains a misdemeanor in 11 of them, including South Carolina.

     The Humane Society of the United States describes cockfighting as "a lucrative crime, with gambling winnings offsetting even the maximum misdemeanor fines," and is working with such groups as the South Carolina-based Palmetto Family Council, a Christian advocacy group with ties to national pro-family Christian organisations, to toughen legislation against what some describe as a "blood-sport."

     CHRIS HERLINGER, of ENInews, reports...  | more... |

HOLY ROLLERS ON HARLEYS TOUR THE HOLY LAND

It wasn't your everyday sight at the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism: dozens of motorcyclists in black leather vests, tattoos and army-green bandanas gathered at the plaza in a culmination of their journey across the country, broke bread together and honored the Israeli army with a prayer and a moment of silence.

     The gathering on Sunday was the culmination of a motorbike tour of Israel organised by Mission:M25 (www.missionm25.org), a group of Evangelical Christians and military veterans whose mission is to honor the armed forces, fallen soldiers and those missing in action. This is the first time the organisation has taken one of these honoring rides, called Run for the Wall, outside of the US.

     "We came to be a blessing," Gary Burd, director of Mission:M25, told Travelujah. "Our whole emphasis was to honor the IDF and all of the armed forces in Israel. As Christians we can come here and freely walk where our Lord walked. We know it takes the sacrifice of men and women to keep a country free."

     NICOLE JANSEZIAN, of Travelujah, reports...  | more... |

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Our church has been conducting Good News Week. It runs every day with a wonderful children’s program. Meanwhile in the adult tent, a doctor, a psychologist, a minister and others speak to the hundreds of parents present on issues facing young couples. On my estimate of mothers and fathers attending (including the special men’s evening program) at least 300 couples have been learning in the most practical way how to improve their personal, family and spiritual lives.
      Brett and Kathy are a Sydney couple well known to me. I remember their wedding some years ago. We were all saddened when after three years their marriage ended. They had stopped talking to each other. They spoke at each other. Many had prayed for them and wanted to help.

     But they did not become one of the 39 per cent who end in divorce. They went to marriage counselling, learnt to listen to each other. As their listening skills improved so did their marriage.
      Then on the Nine Network’s A Current Affair they appeared speaking on how their marriage was saved. Brett said: "After 10 years of marriage, I am more in love with Kath than ever." Kathy said "I am more in love with Brett than ever." They committed to beginning again.

     Rev Dr GORDON MOYES looks at the issue of divorce...  | more... |

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It took me a while to get around to watching Life in a Day even though I always suspected it would be a movie I should see. It didn’t disappoint.

     Life in a Day is the result of a project - a joint production effort between Ridley Scott’s production company and YouTube - in which people from around the world were invited to video a day in their life – the 24th July, 2010 - and then submit the results to create a documentary which would show life on earth for a single day.

     Some 80,000 clips were submitted and these were culled and collated to produce an hour–and-a-half of documentary footage which was then first aired at the Sundance Film Festival last January. As well as being released in cinemas and on DVD, it's now also available for download free-of-charge on its website.

     DAVID ADAMS is amazed with a unique documentary looking at life in a single day on earth... | more... |

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Hellfire and damnation. Hellfire and brimstone. Holy hell: just a touch of irony with that one. Hell’s bells. Hell.
      Whatever we may think hell is and entails, the language and imagery applied to it has always been colourful.

     While the language may be colourful, for some time now many Australians have been dismissive of its existence. A 2009 Nielsen Poll found 68 per cent of Australians believe in God while only 38 per cent believe in hell.
      Expressions such as ‘all my mates will be there’ are symptomatic of a broader view which has turned hell into an insipid, debunked, amorphous nothing which is not worthy of serious intellectual consideration.
      Current notions of hell have been fashioned by a jumble of ideas relating to justice, sinfulness, forgiveness and love.

     Hell has been making headlines in 2011. LLOYD HARKNESS takes a look at what the Bible says about it... | more... |

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Tithing is the practice of giving 10 per cent of your regular income, to God’s work. To “tithe” means a give a “tenth”. There is debate about whether or not the tenth should be before or after tax. There is also debate as to whether the tenth should all go to the local church or if some of it can go to worthwhile charities and para-church organisations. But what there is no debate over, for many Christians and churches, is the obligation to tithe.
      However, Christians are never taught to tithe in any of the New Testament writings – never! Christians are meant to be generous and cheerful givers and everything we have is God’s. But in the New Testament, Christians are not taught to tithe.

     Some preachers and numerous books spend a lot of time arguing for tithing. Some even go so far as to say that it is not just an Old Covenant requirement, but it is actually a timeless principle of God: “Tithing, I believe, is an eternal principle… Some things clearly belong in the Old Covenant promises, while others are New Covenant promises, but the eternal principles were established in the beginning of time…” (Brian Houston, You Need More Money, pp. 67,68).

     JIM REIHER puts forward his view on the issue of tithing... | more...|

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David Mitchell has plenty to shout about the varied opportunities his role as Town Crier of Chester, in the north-west of England, provides, as he continues this centuries old tradition of proclamation.

     In the days before you bought a newspaper on the way to work, or read the news on your phone, you might have heard about the latest financial crisis from your local town crier.

     Mitchell's his insights into the spiritual and historical roots of the art of public proclamation have been heard by over 400 audiences in his after dinner speeches and one man shows.

     "People book me to do a whole gamut of things which is why the job is endlessly varied. But by far my favourite booking is to make my costumed presentation entitled 'For Crying out Loud!'

    PETER WOODING, of Assist News Service, speaks to Chester Town Crier, David Mitchell... | more... |

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Miles (or Myles) Coverdale is celebrated as the first person to publish a complete Bible in English, a work known as the Coverdale Bible.

     While he is believed to have been born in Coverdale, Yorkshire, in England, around 1488, nothing is known of Coverdale's parentage or early education. But it is known that he was ordained a priest at Norwich in 1514 after which he became an Augustinian friar and entered their community at Cambridge.

     The prior, Robert Barnes, was sympathetic to the ideas of church reform which were then circulating – these ideas apparently had a significant role in helping to shape Coverdale’s own views, so much so, that when Barnes was tried for heresy in 1526, Coverdale assisted in his defence.

     In the third of a series on Bible translators to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, DAVID ADAMS looks at the life of Miles Coverdale, translator of the first complete English Bible published in 1535...  | more... |

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SIGHT SPECIAL ON GREAT PRAYERS: ST PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

     Attributed to St Patrick – a fifth century Celtic missionary, this is a small part of a longer prayer generally known as St Patrick’s Breastplate.

     It is so called thanks to its emphasis on the protection God offers, through Christ, in the life of the believer - the name itself draws on the passage in Ephesians 6:14 in which Paul talks about wearing a “breastplate of righteousness” as part of the a Christian's armour against the “day of evil”.

    In the second in our series on Great Prayers, DAVID ADAMS  looks at the origins of St Patrick's Breastplate... | more... |

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The revelation that a Sydney escort agency is offering for sale a virgin should provide a reality check on the state of morality in our society.

     The girl is a Chinese Sydney University student, and the blurred image offered to entice customers hardly disguises her sense of shame and should evince a desire for compassion not sexual exploitation.  Almost surely she is a virgin at 19 because of being raised on conservative cultural and family values, and the guilt of betrayal of them for money screams from the picture.

     But we have arrived here because of a failure to draw moral lines in the sand and protect them, or more particularly to demand political leaders who are prepared to do it.  One of the most basic requirements of leadership, the need to maintain and model moral and ethical standards, has been long sacrificed as a requirement of public leaders.

     JIM WALLACE, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, says the revelation of a "virgin for sale" is indicative of our failure to draw moral lines... | more... |

FOR MORE OF THE LOBBYIST'S VIEW...  | more... |

Filled with the excitement and expectation of meeting Hayimanot - whom they had had conversed with only through letters - they travelled to her Compassion child development centre in the community of Woreta.

     “I had this overpowering desire to meet her, at least once, and be able to give her a cuddle and tell her how much we love her - but more importantly, how much God loves her,” Sheryl says. 

     The Lanhams were told that the average family income in Woreta is around the equivalent of $A20 a month; because of this, many children are forced to drop out of school at an early age and earn a living for their family. AIDS is the biggest cause of death in the area, followed by malaria.

     “A letter from Hayimanot in early 2010 brought me to tears.  In the section of the letter where the children give their prayer requests, she asked that ‘I would be able to grow up’. I was so saddened to think that an eight-year-old child would have to pray that prayer,” Sheryl explains.

     HANNAH WELLHAM writes about Sheryl and Paul Lanham's meeting with their sponsor child Hayimanot...  | more...|

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